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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

SANTA  BARBARA 

COLLEGE  OF 
THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

MRS.    MACK  I  ML. :Y   H£LM 


I 


o 


m 


THE 

BLUE-CHINA 
BOOK 

EARLY    AMERICAN    SCENES    AND    HISTORY 
PICTURED  IN  THE  POTTERY  OF  THE  TIME 

With  a  Supplementary  Chapter  describing  the  cele- 
brated Collection  of  Presidential  China  in  the  White 
House  at  Washington,  D.C.,  and  a  complete  Checking 
List  of  known  Examples  of  Anglo-American  Pottery. 

BY 

ADA  WALKER  CAMEHL 

WITH  200  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.  DUTTON  &  COMPANY 

681  Fifth  Avenue 


Copyright,  1916 
By  E.   p.   DUTTON  &  COMPANY 


Printed  in  tiie  United  States  of  America 


"^  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 


J 


DEDICATED 
TO 

MY  HUSBAND 
WHO  MADE  POSSIBLE  THIS  BOOK 


The  man  who  will  tell  the  story  of  a  race,  a  nation,  or  a  period 
according  to  the  clothing,  dwellings,  utensils,  and  everyday  art 
of  it  will  be,  I  vow,  the  only  true  historian  of  them  all,  and  vividly 
in  his  pages  the  age  and  people  shall  live  again,  though  wars 
and  dynasties  and  that  elaborate  comedy  called  politics  be  but 
the  edges  and  binding  of  the  book.  So  let  us  glorify  our  hobby, 
Hobbinal  my  friend.  Is  it  not  part  of  the  true  stuff  of  history? 
Don't  we  know  that  about  the  doings  of  eighteenth  century 
English  potters  rests  a  nimbus  of  chronicle  as  well  as  of  romance? 

Sir  J.  H.  Yoxall,  M.  P. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

In  the  field  of  American  history,  the  volumes  I  have  consulted 
for  the  story  of  those  years  which  Staffordshire  pottery  depicts, 
comprise  a  number  too  great  to  be  severally  enumerated.  Old 
letters,  diaries,  journals,  travels,  biographies,  files  of  newspapers 
and  magazines,  historical  records  of  all  kinds,  have  been  pored 
over.  Of  notable  value  among  them  may  be  mentioned  the  daily 
journal  of  General  Lafayette  upon  the  occasion  of  his  triumphal 
tour  of  the  States  in  1824-5,  his  keen  observations  continually 
comparing  the  state  of  the  country  at  that  period  with  its  con- 
dition half  a  century  earlier  when  he  was  a  member  of  its  Con- 
tinental army.  Of  especial  interest  also  have  been  Esther  Single- 
ton's "  Story  of  the  White  House,"  Mrs.  Taft's  "  Recollections 
of  Full  Years,"  and  the  recent  volume,  "  Walks  About  Wash- 
ington," by  Francis  E.  Leupp  and  Lester  G.  Hornby. 

In  the  field  of  ceramics,  to  those  who  before  me  have  trod  the 
alluring  paths  of  "  old  blue  "  I  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude :  to  Mrs. 
Alice  Morse  Earle,  whose  "  China  Collecting  in  America  "  set  us 
upon  the  trail  that  leads  to  poverty  of  pocket  and  enrichment  of 
joy  and  understanding,  the  book  which  perhaps  has  done  most 
to  arouse  popular  interest  in  those  humble  and  oft-times  despised 
pieces  of  common  tableware  which  enshrine  the  annals  of  our 
pioneer  years;  to  Dr.  Edwin  Atlee  Barber,  of  Philadelphia,  not 
only  for  the  assistance  which  his  comprehensive  volumes  have 
afforded,  but  also  for  the  privilege  of  enriching  my  own  work 
with  the  "  Index  of  American  Views  "  and  with  several  photo- 
graphs from  his  "  Anglo-American  Pottery  " ;  to  Mr.  Robineau, 
editor  of  the  Old  China  Magazine,  for  photographic  plates  and 
descriptions  of  historic  wares ;  to  the  beautiful  volume  of  Mr.  R. 
T.  Haines  Halsey,  upon  the  historical  pottery  of  New  York  State ; 
and  to  the  valuable  works  of  Mrs.  N.  Hudson  Moore. 

In  addition  to  the  public  displays  of  historical  pottery  which 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

the  Museums  and  Historical  Societies  of  several  of  our  large 
cities  open  to  the  student,  many  individual  collections  have  been 
generously  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  author.  My  thanks  are 
due  first,  to  the  present  Mistress  of  the  White  House,  Mrs. 
Wilson,  for  permission  to  have  photographs  made  of  the  col- 
lection of  presidential  china  which  is  on  permanent  exhibition 
in  the  lower  corridor  of  the  historic  mansion;  and  to  Colonel 
William  W.  Hart,  Commissioner  of  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds 
in  Washington,  for  his  interest  in  my  behalf.  To  Mr.  George 
Kellogg,  of  Amsterdam,  N.  Y.,  my  thanks  are  here  acknowledged 
for  the  privilege  of  consulting  his  very  complete  collection  of  blue 
historical  Staffordshire,  as  well  as  for  many  photographs  of  speci- 
mens, among  them  the  valuable  "  New  York  from  Weehawk  " 
and  the  "  New  York  from  Brooklyn  Heights  "  platters,  and  his 
rare  series  of  State  Arms  plates;  to  Dr.  Irving  P.  Lyon,  of 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  for  photographs  of  his  splendid  group  of  Liver- 
pool pitchers ;  to  Mrs.  Francis  W.  Dickins,  of  Washington,  D.  C, 
for  permission  to  photograph  her  extensive  loan  collection  of 
historical  pottery  in  the  National  Museum  of  that  city;  to  Mr. 
Henry  Leworthy,  of  Fredonia,  N.  Y.,  for  photographs  of  his  rare 
collection;  to  Mrs.  William  Garland,  of  California,  for  photo- 
graphs of  the  Mrs.  Hinman  collection;  to  Mr.  W.  F.  Sheely,  of 
New  Oxford,  Pa.,  for  photographs;  and  to  Mrs.  Randolph 
Barnes,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y,,  for  many  hours  of  pleasurable  and 
profitable  discussion  upon  our  chosen  topic,  as  our  individual  col- 
lections grew. 

I  wish  here  also  to  thank  Mr.  Brayton  L.  Nichols,  editor  of 
The  Illustrated  Buffalo  Express,  for  critical  aid  in  my  literary 
work,  and  for  the  privilege  of  using  material  which  appeared  in 
that  paper;  also,  the  Century  Company  of  New  York,  for  per- 
mission to  incorporate  in  this  volume  material  which  first  was 
published  in  Saint  Nicholas. 

Ada  Walker  Camehl. 
Buffalo,  1916. 


INTRODUCTION 

"all  this  of  pot  and  potter" 

About  a  century  ago  the  pottery-makers  of 
England,  with  that  keen  insight  which  has  given  to 
the  British  Empire  the  markets  of  the  world,  established 
a  profitable  branch  of  commerce  with  the  Colonies  and 
with  the  States  of  the  new  American  Republic,  by  means 
of  an  appeal  unique  in  the  annals  of  trade.  They  deco- 
rated the  pottery  destined  for  the  new  market  with  faith- 
ful views  taken  from  America  itself,  many  of  which, 
by  the  way,  have  been  perpetuated  in  no  other  manner. 
They  reproduced  designs  from  volumes  of  contemporary 
prints  known  as  "The  Beauties  of  America,"  "Pictur- 
esque Views  on  the  Hudson  River,"  etc.,  or,  from  origi- 
nal sketches  out  of  the  note  books  of  English  tourists  re- 
turned from  the  "grand  tour"  of  the  new  country.  A 
few  of  the  potters  sent  their  own  artists  over  the  sea  to 
make  drawings  with  pen  and  pencil,  sketches  in  oil,  or 
impressions  with  the  newly  invented  "camera-obscura" 
or  "camera-lucida"  (the  beginnings  of  modern  cam- 
eras), of  scenery  bordering  upon  the  wonderful  rivers, 
of  mountain  ranges,  inland  lakes,  and  of  the  far-famed 
cataract  of  Niagara.     The  artists  gratified  the  civic 


X  INTRODUCTION 

pride  of  the  dwellers  in  the  new  cities  by  making  pictures 
of  their  important  buildings — state  houses,  colleges, 
almshouses,  prisons,  warehouses,  inns,  churches,  thea- 
ters, mansions,  etc.,  as  well  as  of  their  world-famous  en- 
terprise, the  "Grand  Erie  Canal."  The  English  potters 
did  not  hesitate  to  honor  the  national  heroes  of  the  new- 
born Republic,  several  of  them  turning  out  fanciful 
scenes  of  America's  pioneers ;  others,  setting  aside  their 
own  patriotic  pride,  used  portraits  of  George  Washing- 
ton and  of  the  naval  heroes  of  the  War  of  1812,  together 
with  sketches  of  engagements  fatal  to  British  arms,  of 
monuments  raised  to  Colonial  victories,  and  of  Revolu- 
tionary battlefields  whereon  the  patriot  forces  had  routed 
the  redcoats. 

Benjamin  Franklin's  portrait  and  his  popular  moral 
"Maxims"  and  "Proverbs"  were  eagerly  appropriated 
for  pottery  display,  while  the  famous  visit  of  General 
Lafayette  to  America  furnished  still  another  series  of 
decorations.  One  potter  confined  his  output  of  Ameri- 
can views  almost  entirely  to  a  group  of  designs,  now 
rare  and  valuable,  illustrating  the  coats  of  arms  of  the 
original  Thirteen  States,  and  still  others  commemorated 
in  clay  the  two  marvels  of  early  nineteenth  century 
science — the  steamboat  and  the  locomotive. 

The  pictures  thus  secured,  more  than  two  hundred  and 
fifty  in  number,  were  taken  to  the  English  pottery 
works,  where,  by  means  of  the  recently  discovered  proc- 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

ess  of  transfer  printing  from  copper  plates,  they  were 
stamped  upon  dinner  sets,  tea  services,  toilet  sets,  and 
all  manner  of  useful  ware.  The  potters  of  Liverpool 
were  the  first  to  put  American  views  upon  china,  print- 
ing, shortly  after  the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution, 
the  portraits  of  George  Washington  and  Benjamin 
Franklin  upon  yellow  jugs  and  mugs  and  punch  bowls. 
A  number  of  years  later,  the  Liverpool  potters  pro- 
duced an  almost  complete  series  of  portraits  of  Ameri- 
can naval  heroes,  together  with  illustrations  of  the  prin- 
cipal engagements  of  the  War  of  1812. 

By  far  the  greater  number  of  American  views,  how- 
ever, went  to  the  group  of  English  hamlets  in  the  county 
of  Staffordshire,  which  numbers  about  a  dozen  and  is 
still  known  as  "The  Potteries."  Burslem,  Cobridge, 
Hanley,  Stoke-upon-Trent,  Tunstall,  are  among  the  im- 
portant pottery  settlements  whence  ware  was  sent  to 
America ;  while  the  names  of  potters  which  the  collector 
most  commonly  finds  upon  the  back  of  his  specimens  are 
Enoch  Wood,  Stevenson,  Clews,  Ridgway,  Stubbs,  Tams, 
Mayer,  Adams,  Jackson,  and  Green.  A  long  list  of 
pieces,  however,  are  unmarked,  and  the  makers  unidenti- 
fied. From  the  year  1783  when  Enoch  Wood  set  up  his 
works  at  Burslem,  until  about  1850,  almost  all  of  the 
English  pottery  which  was  sent  across  the  sea  bore  views 
obtained  from  America,  the  specimens  which  now  sur- 
vive being  known  as  "Old  Staffordshire."     The  name  of 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

the  potter,  oft-times  his  initials  alone,  may  be  found  upon 
the  back  of  the  pieces,^  together  with  peculiar  marks  (a 
number  of  which  are  illustrated  in  the  supplement  to  this 
volume)  and  scrolls  encircling  the  title  of  the  view  upon 
the  face.  Every  piece  of  the  same  set  of  dishes  was 
not  thus  defined,  hollow  ware  such  as  cups  and  saucers, 
sugar  bowls  and  pitchers,  being  frequently  found  with- 
out a  distinguishing  mark,  the  name  of  the  potter  then 
being  determined  by  the  border  design. 

Attractive  indeed  are  the  border  devices  with  which 
the  American  views  are  framed,  nearly  every  potter  cus- 
tomarily making  use  of  one  distinctive  pattern.  He 
might  vary  the  scene  within  the  frame,  or  he  might  bor- 
row some  sketch  from  a  neighboring  potter,  but  the  bor- 
der around  it,  as  a  rule  remained  peculiarly  his  own, 
thereby  making  of  it  to-day  a  ready  means  of  identifica- 
tion. The  border  designs,  as  a  study  of  the  illustra- 
tions reveals,  are  composed  of  graceful  combinations  of 
sea-shells  and  mosses,  roses  and  scrolls,  acorns  and  oak 
leaves,  grapes  and  vines,  or  of  fruit,  birds  and  flowers 
in  delightful  arrangement.  Animals  peculiar  to  the 
tropics  appear  in  one  series,  the  American  eagle  perches 
proudly  among  the  scrolls  of  another,  while  one  or  two 
of  the  more  intricate  patterns  bear  marked  resemblance 
to  the  borders  found  on  Flemish  tapestries  of  the  Renais- 
sance, or  encircling  the  charming  terra-cotta  Madonnas 
of  Delia  Robbia. 

1  See  supplementary  chapter  B. 


VIEW  NEAR  CONWAY,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE 
(ir.  Adams  &  Sons) 


BAKER'S  FALLS,  HUDSON  RIVER 

{Clews,  "Picturcstiue  Views") 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

The  rich  blue  color  so  greatly  admired,  which  until 
very  recent  years  has  been  impossible  of  reproduction, 
was  first  adopted  in  England  early  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, and  was  an  echo  of  the  Oriental  blues,  as  well  as 
of  the  Dutch  Delft,  which,  owing  to  Holland's  earlier 
trade  facilities  with  the  Orient,  presented  the  first  repro- 
duction of  that  color  in  Europe.  Until  about  the  year 
1830,  at  which  time  printing  upon  pottery  became  cheap- 
ened by  the  process  of  lithography,  blue  was  almost  the 
sole  color  in  use  in  the  Staffordshire  potteries.  The 
color  was  cheap  and  flowed  easily,  and  its  density  hid 
from  view  the  imperfections  in  ware  and  workmanship 
— ^blisters  in  the  glaze  and  marks  of  the  triangles  used 
to  separate  the  pieces  in  the  kiln,  marks  which  may  still 
be  discovered  upon  all  pieces  of  flat  ware  made  in  Staf- 
fordshire during  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  beautiful 
old  blue  dishes  so  greatly  coveted  to-day  are  not  of  fine 
material,  nor  of  skilled  manufacture,  their  present  value 
lying  in  their  decorative  quality,  and  in  the  pictured 
memorials  of  early  America  which  they  perpetuate — 
memorials  which  at  the  present  time  are  accorded  an  im- 
portant place  among  the  authentic  documents  of  his- 
tory. As  the  years  went  by,  however,  the  rich  deep 
blue  was  followed  with  paler  tints — light  blue,  pink, 
green,  mulberry,  purple,  gray,  and  also  black — until  at 
last,  just  before  the  Centennial  Exposition  of  1876,  the 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

event  which  proved  to  be  the  rebirth  of  the  Art  spirit  in 
the  United  States,  the  common  tableware  of  our  fore- 
fathers had  faded  to  the  dull  monotony  of  white. 

When  and  how  did  the  pictured  English  pottery  find 
its  way  to  the  United  States  ?  Near  the  end  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  soon  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  "sailor-pitchers"  and  punch  bowls  made  in  Liver- 
pool were  brought  to  these  shores  by  sea-captains  and 
sailor-boys  and  were  presented  as  keepsakes  to  home 
friends.  By  reason  of  the  graceful  forms  and  of  the 
verses  and  portraits  printed  upon  them,  verses  breathing 
of  homely  sentiment  and  patriotism,  and  portraits  of  cele- 
brated patriot  heroes,  they  were  lovingly  cherished  by 
New  England  housewives.  About  25  years  ago,  when 
keen  interest  in  the  preservation  of  historic  china  had  its 
beginning,  there  was  scarcely  a  New  England  family 
with  sea-faring  ancestors  whose  chimney  shelf  or  corner 
dresser  was  not  graced  with  one  or  more  yellow  jug  or 
bowl  of  Liverpool. 

The  more  gayly  hued  pottery  of  Staffordshire  manu- 
facture was,  until  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  shipped  to  American  merchants  in  large  quan- 
tities and  purchased  for  daily  use  by  our  forefathers 
and  their  china-loving  dames.  They  admired  the  rich 
colors  and  the  quaint  forms,  and,  as  they  sipped  their 
spiced  brew  or  fragrant  tea,  they  found  added  pleasure 
in  looking  upon  the  faces  of  their  beloved  heroes,  in 


TRANSYLVANIA  UNIVERSITY 

LEXINGTON,  KENTUCKY 

(^Wood) 


MARINE  HOSPITAL, 

LOUISVILLE,  KY. 

{Wood) 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

living  over  in  imagination  the  great  battles,  and  in  mar- 
veling anew  at  the  wonderful  achievements  of  peace,  de- 
picted upon  the  specimens  before  them. 
V  The  prices  given  for  the  imported  ware  were  so  small, 
from  a  six-pence  to  a  shilling  being  the  cost  of  a  single 
plate,  that  the  amounts  paid  at  the  present  time  to  pos- 
sess one  of  the  surviving  pieces  would  amaze  our  thrifty 
forefathers  as  well  as  astonish  the  trade-seeking  potters 
who  turned  them  out.  Liverpool  jugs  bearing  the  por- 
traits of  Washington  or  of  the  heroes  and  sea  battles 
of  1812  are  worth  thirty,  fifty,  and  more  dollars,  while 
one  hundred  dollars  are  frequently  given  for  a  blue  plate 
or  platter  or  pitcher  printed  with  some  historic  design. 
A  few  years  ago,  the  sum  of  $290  was  given  for  a  blue 
platter  picturing  "New  York  from  Brooklyn  Heights"; 
at  a  recent  sale,  $1000  was  paid  for  a  Pennsylvania  Arms 
plate ;  and  not  long  ago  a  platter  of  the  "New  York  from 
Weehawk"  design  brought  $1225,  the  highest  price  yet 
paid  for  a  specimen  of  old  Staffordshire. 

It  may  be  asked,  Where  are  examples  of  Staffordshire 
historical  ware  to  be  obtained  at  the  present  time?  It 
is  a  surprising  fact  that  search  for  pieces  of  English 
pottery  with  American  views  in  the  country  where  it 
was  manufactured  fails  to  discover  any  specimen,  prac- 
tically all  of  it  having  been  shipped  to  the  market  for 
which  it  was  created.  In  this  country,  a  large  number 
of  pieces  which  have  survived  the  changes  a  century  has 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

brought  to  the  rapidly  developing  nation  are  carefully 
gathered  into  the  public  Museums  or  Historical  Societies 
of  the  great  cities,  or  else  they  are  cherished  in  the  no 
less  valuable  private  collections  of  china-loving  indi- 
viduals. But  there  yet  remains  in  country  homes 
throughout  the  eastern  states,  in  the  oft-times  careless 
possession  of  descendants  of  original  owners,  a  harvest 
sufficient  to  tempt  the  admirer  of  "old  blue,"  to  lure  him 
into  that  fascinating  quest  which  may  be  as  futile  as  the 
search  for  the  pot  of  gold  at  the  end  of  the  rainbow,  but 
which  has  for  reward,  in  addition  to  the  specimens  se- 
cured, a  fuller  understanding  of  the  formative  period 
of  his  own  nation. 

What  joy  can  compare  with  that  of  passing  a  long 
summer  day  in  the  country,  driving  with  horse  and  car- 
riage or  swifter  motor  (the  halcyon  days  of  the  spacious 
tin  peddler's  cart,  which  served  the  earliest  in  the  field 
of  china  collecting,  alas !  are  gone),  over  sun-baked  dusty 
hills  and  through  winding,  shadowy  valleys,  stopping  at 
each  low-browed  dwelling  in  quest  of  old  blue  china? 
A  debt  of  gratitude  is  due  the  oldtime  potters  of  England 
for  making  and  sending  to  these  shores  such  quantities 
of  attractive  ware  that  even  yet  stray  specimens  are 
hidden  away  under  dusty  eaves,  upon  top  pantry  shelves, 
or  on  the  high  mantels  of  dark  parlors,  waiting  to  be 
peered  out  and  gathered. 

Uncertain  as  a  lottery  are  the  rewards  of  a  china  hunt. 


PINE  ORCHARD  HOUSE  IN  THE  CATSKILLS 
{Enoch  Wood) 


PENITENTIARY  AT  ALLEGHENY,  NEAR  PITTSBURGH,  PA. 
(Clews,  "Picturesque  Views") 


PITTSBURGH,  PA. 
Primitive  Craft  on  River 
(Clews,  "Picturesque  Views") 


SHANNONDALE  SPRINGS.  VIRGINIA 
(Jackson) 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

One  may,  after  knocking  at  the  door  of  some  "likely" 
farmhouse,  be  shown,  in  place  of  the  "old  blue  dishes, 
pewter,  or  any  other  old  things"  humbly  asked  for,  a  hair 
wreath  set  in  a  deep  gilt  frame,  or  a  bunch  of  faded 
worsted  flowers — memorials  of  another  more  recent 
"Art"  period  of  our  history.  Or,  the  seeker  of  historic 
relics  may  make  his  way  to  the  back  door  (the  true 
hunter  of  old  china  never  approaches  the  front)  through 
the  pigs  and  hens  of  the  barnyard,  only  to  be  informed 
by  the  woman  who  opens  it,  "Old  blue  dishes?  Land, 
yes!  I  had  stacks  of  them,  but  when  they  got  broken 
I  just  pounded  them  up  and  fed  them  to  the  hens !"  As 
he  picks  his  way  to  the  gate  he  may  take  a  long  look  at 
the  poultry,  until  there  rises  before  his  vision  rows  of 
Easter  eggs  born  into  the  world  bearing  the  sad  love 
story  of  Chang  and  his  sweetheart  Koong-Shee,  or  else 
the  benign  features  of  Franklin  or  of  the  Father  of  His 
Country;  surely,  "Caesar  dead  and  turned  to  clay  .  .  ." 
has  a  parallel  in  the  present. 

Then  the  unexpected  "finds"!  Setting  out  in  search 
of  a  Willow  platter  which  neighborhood  rumor  whis- 
pered was  "in  the  low  white  house  on  the  hill  yonder,  a 
part  of  her  grandmother's  wedding  set,"  how  keen  the 
pleasure  to  discover  in  place  of  the  more  common  pat- 
tern, a  rich  blue  platter  inscribed,  "Landing  of  General 
Lafayette," — and  how  eager  the  desire  to  hasten  home 
with  the  prize  and  search  for  the  story  it  records.     The 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

day  we  came  upon  the  large  vegetable  dish  with  the  aque- 
ducts, the  canal  boats  and  the  four  familiar  faces  .  .  . 
our  interest  in  the  sluggish  ditch  had  been  but  a  dull  one 
until  then.  And  the  big-winged  frigates  so  fiercely  fight- 
ing upon  the  yellow  jugs,  Penn  and  his  Indians,  and 
Columbus,  the  battle-monuments  and  the  buildings  of 
the  early  cities — ^how  they  sharpened  our  appetites  for 
hitherto  dry  facts,  and  awakened  an  impulse  to  unravel 
and  follow  to  their  source  the  bright  threads  of  this 
alluring  and  gayly  patterned  "stuff  of  history." 

The  knowledge  of  a  bygone  period  of  our  nation's 
history  acquired  from  the  pleasant  study  of  old  blue 
china  suggests  to  the  mind  a  comparison  with  the  pres- 
ent era,  and  tempts  a  vision,  "far  as  human  eye  can  see," 
of  that  which  lies  before.  "We  live  in  a  most  extraor- 
dinary age,"  remarked  Daniel  Webster  a  century  ago — 
words  frequent  on  men's  tongues  to-day.  For,  as  a 
present-day  historian  observes,  "Less  cumbered  by  old 
traditions  than  the  elder  nations,  and  with  a  vast  conti- 
nent in  front  of  her,  America  has  marched  along  the 
new  roads  of  history  with  a  rapidity  and  an  energy  for 
which  there  is  no  precedent."  From  the  twelve  million 
inhabitants  of  Webster's  time  the  Republic  has  increased 
to  a  population  of  one  hundred  millions,  and  the  flag 
which  the  century-old  tableware  pictures  displaying 
thirteen  stars,  now  proudly  flies  nearly  half  a  hundred. 
To-day,  in  place  of  the  Mississippi  River  or  the  "Shining 


INTRODUCTION  xix 

Mountains"  bounding  the  western  territory  of  the  na- 
tion, the  dwellers  in  Alaska,  in  Hawaii,  in  the  islands 
of  the  Far  East  and  of  the  tropical  seas  are,  like  the 
early  settlers  upon  the  Mississippi  banks,  "fellow  citi- 
zens and  neighbors  of  those  who  cultivate  the  hills  of 
New  England."  Almost  all  of  the  stately  buildings  dis- 
played upon  the  old  tableware  have  been  swept  away  by 
the  growth  of  the  great  cities,  the  few  which  have  been 
spared  being  at  the  present  time  either  lost  to  view  as  the 
kernels  of  imposing  modern  structures,  or  else  their 
proportions  are  dwarfed  by  neighboring  tower-like  piles. 
Science  has  taken  the  past  hundred  years  for  her 
special  field,  and  has  marked  its  pathway  with  such 
countless  milestones  of  achievement  that  the  clumsy  and 
fear-inspiring  little  steamboats  and  locomotives  which 
the  blue  plates  present  as  the  wonders  of  a  century  ago 
have  been  at  the  present  time  succeeded  by  the  swift 
moving  leviathans  of  sea  and  land;  and  the  telephone, 
the  wireless  telegraph,  the  automobile,  the  submarine, 
have,  each  in  turn,  been  cause  for  marvel  .  .  .  until, 
crowning  all  marvels,  the  boon  denied  Icarus  of  old, 
navigation  of  the  air,  is  a  commonplace  to  those  who 
live  to-day.  Obsolete  as  the  primitive  yewbows  of 
yeoman  archers,  or  as  the  cumbersome  armor  and  lances 
of  mediaeval  knights,  is  the  Art  of  warfare  as  it  is  mani- 
fested in  the  old-china  battle-scenes  of  the  Revolution 
and  of  the  sea  engagements  of  1812,  .  .  .  a  vivid  con- 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

trast  to  the  vast  European  campaigns  which  at  the  period 
of  writing  are  claiming  the  attention  of  the  world. 
These  century-old  sketches  of  the  one  time  "thin,  red 
lines"  of  gayly  uniformed  British  soldiery  defiling  up 
Bunker  Hill,  for  hand-to-hand  combat  with  the  enemy, 
and  of  Old  Ironsides  slowly  and  laboriously  kedging  her 
way  out  of  the  enemy's  reach,  have  been  succeeded  by 
modern  photographs,  and  moving-picture  films,  of  paral- 
lel trenches  filled  with  gray-clad  soldiers  losing  or  win- 
ning battles  sometimes  without  a  sight  of  the  enemy ;  of 
long-range  guns,  aeroplanes,  and  submarine  destroyers. 

To  the  western  Republic,  the  hundred  years  of  peace 
which  have  been  recently  concluded  have  brought  such 
unexampled  growth  and  prosperity  that  to  it  as  to  a 
"Promised  Land"  turn  the  hopes  of  the  folk  of  Old 
World  Empires,  who  within  its  borders  seek  and  find 
that  liberty  which  was  so  hardly  won  by  their  fore- 
fathers— America's  pioneers. 

As  to  the  place  which  the  future  holds  for  the  United 
States,  the  prophecy  spoken  by  an  early  and  far-seeing 
citizen  of  the  Republic  is  one  with  the  convictions  of 
those  who  behold  her  at  the  present  time  entering  upon 
a  "new  road  of  history" :  "Humanly  speaking,  no  cir- 
cumstances can  prevent  these  United  States  from  becom- 
ing eventually,  and  at  no  distant  period,  a  great  and 
powerful  nation,  influencing  and  controlling  the  other 
sovereignties  of  the  world." 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 
"All  This  of  Pot  and  Potter" 

PART  I 

THE  COUNTRY  AND  THE  CITIES  OF 

EARLY  AMERICA 

I    A  Tour  of  the  Land 3 

II    "The  Crooked  but  Interesting  Town  of  Boston"    22 

III  Old  New  York 43 

IV  The  Philadelphia  of  Penn  and  Franklin    .     .71 
V    Early  Bai^timore 88 

VI    Washington,  t^  New  Capital 94 

PART  II 

THE  AMERICAN  NATION-BUILDERS  AND 

THEIR  WORK 

VII    Pioneers  of  America 107 

VIII    George  Washington 124 

IX    Scenes  of  the  Revolutionary  War 137 

X    Emblems  of  the  New  Republic  and  States    .     .  146 

XI    Benjamin  Franklin  and  His  Precepts  .     .     .     .158 

XII    Naval  Heroes  of  the  War  of  1812 173 

XIII  General  Lafayette's  Visit  to  America     .     .     .   192 

XIV  Opening  of  the  Erie  Canal 213 

XV    Introduction  of  New  Modes  of  Travel    .     .     .  225 

SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

A — ^The    White    House    Collection    of    Presidential 

China 245 

B — Checking  List  of  American   Views   Found  Upon 

English — Old  Pottery 267 

C — The  Willow  Pattern  and  Other  Important  Blue 

China  Series — Story  of  the  Willow  Pattern  287 


ALPHABETICAL  UST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


TAOING 
PAOI 


Albany    (Wood) 14 

Albany,  Dutch  Church    (Stevenson) 6 

Albany,   Rensselaer  Island    (maker  unknown)    .      .     .      .  15 

Allegheny,   Penitentiary    (Clews) Introduction 

Arms,  of  Connecticut  (Mayer) 152 

Arms,  of  Delaware  (Mayer) 150 

Arms,  of  Georgia  (Mayer 149 

Arms,  of  Maryland  (Mayer) 149 

Arms,  of  Massachusetts  (Mayer) 151 

Arms,  of  New  Jersey  (Mayer) 146 

Arms,  of  New  York  (Mayer) 152 

Arms,  of  North  Carolina  (Mayer) 148 

Arms,  of  Pennsylvania  (Mayer) 146 

Arms,  of  Rhode  Island  (Mayer) 148 

Arms,  of  South  Carolina  (Mayer) 153 

Arms,  of  Virginia  (Mayer) 153 

Bainbridge,  Commodore   (bust  portrait) 177 

Baker's  Falls,  Hudson  R.    (Clews)      ....     Introduction 

Baltimore  (Godwin) 88 

Baltimore  (Unknown  maker) 90 

Baltimore,  Almshouse  (unknown  maker) 91 

Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R.,  so  called  (cup  and  saucer)  .      .     .  229 

Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R.  (Wood) 233 

Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R.  Inclined  Plane  (Wood)  ....  233 

Baltimore,  Battle  Monument  (Jackson) 92 

Baltimore,  Exchange  (unknown  maker) 92 

Baltimore,  Hospital  (unknown  maker) 91 

Baltimore,  University  of  Maryland  (unknown  maker)   .      .  90 

Boston,  Almshouse   (R.  Stevenson) 38 

Boston,  Athenaeum  (Ridgway) 39 

Boston,  Common,  State  House,  Dwellings  (Stubbs)   ...  26 

Boston  from  Chelsea  Heights  (C.  C.) 24 

Boston,  Fusileers  of,  (Liverpool  pitcher) 142 

Boston,  Hancock  House  (Jackson) 30 

Boston,  Hospital  (R.  Stevenson) 34 


ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


TACINO 
PAOB 


Boston,  Insane  Hospital  (Ridgway) 35 

Boston,  Lawrence  Mansion  (R.  S.) 27 

Boston,  Mitchell  &  Freeman's  China  &  Glass  Warehouse 

(Adams) 35 

Boston,  Nahant  (Stubbs) 39 

Boston,  Octagon  Church   (Ridgway) 34 

Boston,  State  House  (chaise)    (Rogers) 30 

Boston,  St.  Paul's  Church  (Ridgway) 27 

Buffalo,  Erie  Canal  at  (R.  S.) 213 

Bunker  Hill,  Battle  of  (R.  Stevenson) 138 

Bunker  Hill  Monument  (Jackson) 139 

Cadmus  (Wood) 196 

Catskills,  Pine  Orchard  House  (Wood)     .     .     .     Introduction 

"Chancellor  Livingston,"  steamboat  (Wood) 236 

"Chief  Justice  Marshall,"  steamboat  of  "Troy  Line"  (Wood)  232 
Clinton,     Jefferson,     Washington,     portraits,     (Stevenson) 

(vegetable  dish) 214 

Columbia  College  (R.  S.  W.) 53 

Columbus,  Landing  of,  cavalry  view  (Adams)  .  .  .  .112 
Columbus,  Landing  of,  Indian  shooting  wild  goose,  (Adams)  113 
Columbus,  Landing  of,  two  caravels  (Adams)     .      .     .     .113 

Columbus,  Landing  of ,  (Wedgwood  pitcher) 118 

Conway,  N.  H.,  View  near  (Adams)     ....     Introduction 

Decatur,  Commodore  Stephen  (bust  portrait)  ....  179 
Detroit,  Michigan  (unknown  maker)  ....  Introduction 
Don  Quixote's  Attack  on  the  Windmill  (Clews)  ....  287 
Dr.  Syntax  Starting  out  upon  his  First  Tour  (Clews)   .      .  287 

Emblems  of   Success  of   Revolutionary  Arms    (Liverpool 

pitcher) 131 

"Enterprise"  &  "Boxer"  (Liverpool  pitcher) 183 

Erie  Canal,  at  Albany  (Wood) 218 

Erie  Canal,  at  Albany  (Liverpool  pitcher) 222 

Erie  Canal,  at  Little  Falls  (Wood) 218 

Erie  Canal,  at  Little  Falls,  horses  on  tow-path  (Jackson)  .  222 
Erie  Canal,  at  Rochester,  Aqueduct  Bridge  (Wood)  .  .  .215 
Erie  Canal,  at  Rochester,  Aqueduct  Bridge  (vegetable  dish) 

(Stevenson) 215 

Erie  Canal,  DeWitt  Clinton  Eulogy  (unknown  maker)     .      .219 

Erie  Canal,  Utica  Inscription  (unknown  maker)   ...  219 

"Escape  of  the  Mouse,"  Wilkie  (Clews) 287 


ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


TACINO 
PAGE 


Fort  Hamilton,  New  York  (Godwin) 43 

Franklin,  Bennington  Toby 166 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  Fur-cap  portrait  (from  "Anglo-Ameri- 
can Pottery") 162 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  "Maxims" — "Constant  dropping  wears 

away  stones" 167 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  "Handle  your  tools  without  mittens,  etc."  \trj 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  "He  that  by  the  plough  would  thrive, 

etc." 166 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  "He  who  lives  upon  Hope  will  die  fast- 
ing"       167 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  "Keep  thy  shop  &  thy  shop  will  keep 

thee" 167 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  "Not  to  oversee  workmen  is  to  leave 

them,  etc." 167 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  "Three  removes  are  as  bad  as  a  fire, 

etc." 167 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  "Morals" — "Flowers  that  never  fade" 

— "Good  Humor" 162 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  "Many  a  little  makes  a  mickle"  .  .  .  163 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  "No  Gains  without  Pains"  ....  163 
Franklin,    Benjamin,    "Poor    Richard's    Way    to    Wealth," 

Maxims :    "Now  I  have  a  sheep  &  a  cow,  etc."  .      .      .   168 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  "What  maintains  one  vice  would  bring 

up  two  children,  etc." 168 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  "Success  to  the  plow,  etc.".  .  .  .  169 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  "Handle  your  tools  without  gloves,  etc."  169 

"Fulton"  steamboat 228 

Fulton's  Steamboat  passing  West  Point  (Leeds  teapot)  .     .  236 

Gilpin's  Mills  (Wood) 139 

"  Guerriere"  bound  for  Russia  (Liverpool  pitcher)   .     .     .178 

Hartford,  Deaf  &  Dumb  Institute   (Ridgway)    ....  203 

Harvard  College,  Buildings  (E.  W.  &  S.) 31 

Harvard  College,  Campus  and  Halls  (E.  W.  &  S.)  .  .  .  25 
Harvard  College,  University  Hall  (R.  S.  W.)  In  the  author's 

collection 22 

Harvard  College,  University  Hall,  Built  1815  (R.  S.  W.  or 

R.  S.  &  W.) 31 

Hoboken,  N.  J.,  Stevens  Mansion  (Stubbs) 228 

Hudson,  View  on  the  (Clews) 16 

Hull,  Commodore  (bust  portrait) 182 


ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


TAOIKO 
PAa> 


Jefferson,   Lafayette,   Clinton,  portraits  in   Vegetable  dish 

(Stevenson) 214 

Juniata,  Headwaters  of  (Adams) Ii 

Lafayette,  as  he  appeared  in  1824  (Erie  Canal)  (Stevenson)  196 

Lafayette,  at  the  Tomb  of  Franklin  (Wood) 203 

197 

208 
202 
208 
192 
197 


Lafayette,  at  the  Tomb  of  Washington  (Wood)  . 
Lafayette,  crowned  at  Yorktown  (luster  pitcher)  . 
Lafayette,  Landing  of,  at  Castle  Garden  (Clews)  . 
Lafayette,  "The  Nation's  Guest"  (portrait  pitcher) 
La  Grange,  Lafayette's  Home  in  France  (E.  W.  &  S.) 

La  Grange,  East  View  (E.  W.  &  S.) 

Lake  George    (Wood) Introduction 

Lexington,  Kentucky,  Transylvania  University  (Wood) 

Introduction 
Little  Falls  at  Luzerne,  Hudson  River  (Clews)     ,     Introduction 

Log  Cabin  (Ridgway) 10 

Louis  XVI  and  Franklin,  Treaty  Statuette  (From  "China 
Collecting  in  America,"  by  Alice  Morse  Earle;  copy- 
right, 1892,  by  Charles  Scribner's  Sons) 158 

Louisville,  Ky.,  Marine  Hospital  (Wood)  .     .     .     Introduction 

Macdonough's    Victory    on    Lake    Champlain     (Liverpool 

pitcher) 187 

Madison,  War  President   (Liverpool  portrait)    ....   179 

Marks  on  pottery 271 

Mohawk  &  Hudson  River  R.  R.  (C.  C.) 240 

Montmorenci,   Falls   of    (Wood) 7 

New  Haven,  Yale  College  and  State  House  (unknown  maker)  10 

"New  Style"  travel  (English  pitcher) 237 

New  York,  Almshouse  (Ridgway) 6^ 

New  York,  Battery  Walk  (Wood) 47 

New  York,  City  Hall  (Ridgway) 66 

New  York,  City   Hotel    (Stevenson) 62 

New  York,  Church  in  Murray  St.  (A.  Stevenson)   ...  63 

New  York,  Commons,  American  Museum  (Stevenson)  .      .  66 

New  York.  Esplanade  (R.  S.) 59 

New  York,  Flagstaff  Pavilion  (R.  S.) 58 

New  York,  Fort  Clinton  (Wood) 58 

New  York  from  Brooklyn  Heights  (A.  Stevenson)  ...  46 

New  York  from  Weehawk  (A.  Stevenson) 52 


ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


iNew  York,  Merchant's    Exchange,    Ruins    of    (unknown 

maker) 43 

New  York,  Park  Theater  (R.  S.  W.) 53 

New  York,  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  (unknown  maker)   .     .  63 

New  York,  St.  Paul's  Chapel   (Stevenson) 62 

Niagara  Falls  (Adams) 17 

Niagara  Falls  (Wood) 19 

Niagara  Falls,  Table  Rock  (Wood) 15 

"Old  Style"  Travel  (English  pitcher) 237 

Penn's  Treaty  with  Indians  (T.  G.) 119 

Penn's  Treaty  with  Indians  (platter  scene)  (T.  G.)  .  .  .119 
Perry,  Commodore,  "Hero  of  the  Lake"   (portrait  pitcher 

from  "Anglo-American  Pottery") 177 

Perry,  Memorial,  Temple  of  Fame  (Stevenson)  (from  "An- 
glo-American Pottery") 188 

Perry's  Victory  on  Lake  Erie  (Liverpool  pitcher)  .  .  .172 
Philadelphia,  Bank  of  the  United  States  (Stubbs)  ...  75 
Philadelphia,  Dam  &  Waterworks  (side-wheel  steamboat)  .  75 
Philadelphia,  Dam  &  Waterworks  (stem- wheel  steamboat)  .  229 

Philadelphia,  "Faire  Mount"  (Stubbs) 74 

Philadelphia,  Library    (Ridgway) 78 

Philadelphia,  Mendenhall  Ferry  (Stubbs) 85 

Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania  Hospital  (Ridgway)   ....     71 

Philadelphia,  Staughton's  Church  (Ridgway) 74 

Philadelphia,  Upper  Ferry  Bridge  (Stubbs) 79 

Philadelphia,  United  States  Hotel  (Tarns) 84 

Philadelphia,  Waterworks  Pumping  Station  (Jackson)   .      .     78 

Pike,  General    (bust  portrait) 182 

Pilgrims,  Landing  of,  pitcher  (Wood) 107 

Pilgrims,  Landing  of,  plate  (Wood) 107 

Pittsburgh,  "Pennsylvania"  steamboat  (Clews)  ....  225 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Primitive  craft  (Clews)       .      .      .     Introduction 

Pittsfield,  Winter  View  of  (Clews) 18 

Preble,  Commodore,  Attacking  Tripoli  (Liverpool  pitcher)  .   186 

President 

President 

President 

President 

President 

President 

President 


al  China,  George  Washington 248 

al  China,  John  Adams 248 

al  China,  Thomas  Jefferson 249 

al  China,  James  Madison 249 

al  China,  James  Monroe 250 

al  China,  John  Quincy  Adams         250 

al  China,  Andrew   Jackson 251 


ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


TACINO 
FAOI 


Presidential  China,  John  Tyler 252 

Presidential  Qiina,  James  K.  Polk 252 

Presidential  China,  Franklin  Pierce 253 

Presidential  China,  Abraham  Lincoln 253 

Presidential  China,  Ulysses  S.  Grant  .     .      .     .     .     .     .  256 

Presidential  China,  Rutherford  B.  Hayes 256 

Presidential  China,  James  A.  Garfield 257 

Presidential  China,  Chester  A.  Arthur 257 

Presidential  China,  Grover  Cleveland 264 

Presidential  China,  Benjamin  Harrison 264 

Presidential  China,  William  McKinley 265 

Presidential  China,  Theodore  Roosevelt     ......  245 

Quebec   (unknown  maker) 6 

Sailor  Pitcher:    "May  they  ever  be  United" 176 

Sailor  Pitcher:    "The   Sailor's   Return" 176 

Sailor  Pitcher:     "The  True  Blooded  Yankee"      .     .      .     .178 

Seal  of  the  United  States  (front  of  pitcher) 127 

Seal  of  the  United  States,  adaptation  of 154 

Seal  of  the  United  States,  adaptation  of,  "America"  .  .154 
Shannondale  Springs,  Va.  (Jackson)       ....     Introduction 

"States"  design  (Clews) 94 

Stonington,  Conn.,  "Defense  of"  (Liverpool  pitcher)  .     .     .   186 

Troy,  Hudson  river  (Clews) 11 

"Union  Line,"  steamboat  (Wood) 232 

Washington,  D.  C,  Capitol  (Ridgway)       .      .      .     Frontispiece 

Washington,  D.  C,  early  view  of  Capitol  (Wood)   ...  99 

Washington,  D.  C,  Plan  of  city   (Liverpool  pitcher)    .      .  98 

Washington,  D.  C,  President's  House  (Jackson)       ...  98 

Washington,  D.  C,  site  of  (unknown  maker)  ....  99 
Washington,  Lafayette,  Jefferson,  Clinton  (Dutch  Church  at 

Albany,  cover)  (Stevenson) 6 

Washington,  George,  "Map"  portrait  pitcher 3 

Washington,  George,  portrait  on  Erie  Canal  dish  ....  134 

Washington,  George  (scroll  in  hand) 130 

Washington,  George,  Stuart  portrait 126 

Washington,  George,  portrait  festooned  with  names  of  15 

states 126 

Washington,  George,  portrait,  "Honor  the  Brave,  etc."  .     .130 


ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
FAOB 


Washington,  George,  Portrait  on  Monument 131 

Washington,  George,  "Washington   in   Glory;   America   in 

Tears" 127 

Washington,  George,  on  lawn  at  Mount  Vernon  ....  134 

Washington,  Martha,   "States"   plate 124 

"Wasp  &  Frolic"  (Liverpool  pitcher) 183 

West  Point  Military  School  (Adams) 137 

Willow  Pattern 286 

Yorktown,  Surrender  at  (luster  pitcher)   .     ,     .♦,     ,     ,     ,  138 


A  NOTE  TO  THE  READER 

This  book  does  not  undertake  to  cover  with  thorough- 
ness the  entire  field  of  blue  china,  for  interest  in  the  col- 
lecting of  pottery,  like  to  that  in  the  gathering  together 
of  other  groups  of  objects,  is  at  the  present  time,  with 
rare  exceptions,  many-sided  and  highly  specialized. 
Each  collector  has  his  particular  viewpoint,  his  own 
choice  of  objects  of  the  chase.  One  person,  for  exam- 
ple, may  select  his  specimens  with  an  eye  to  a  display  of 
the  work  peculiar  to  several  countries ;  another  may  con- 
fine his  fancy  to  the  output  of  one  nation  alone;  still 
another  may  make  pastes,  glazes,  or  decorative  motifs, 
his  study;  while  perhaps  the  largest  number  will,  like 
Charles  Lamb  and  Horace  Walpole,  yield  to  the  fasci- 
nating lure  for  the  simple  reason  that  "china's  the  pas- 
sion of  their  souls,"  and  will  secure  whatever  pieces  op- 
portunity brings  to  hand. 

The  author  of  the  present  volume  has  confined  her  in- 
terest not  only  to  "Blue  China,"  as  the  title  suggests, 
but  to  the  particular  wares  known  to  collectors  as  Staf- 
fordshire historical  pottery.  And  this  interest  has  been 
further  specialized  upon  the  history  and  topography  of 
America.  For,  in  the  process  of  forming  a  collection, 
the  fact  was  discovered  that  this  group  of  English  pot- 
tery is  not  only  a  valuable  record  of  the  American  coun- 
try and  cities  as  they  appeared  a  century  ago,  but  it  is 
at  the  same  time  a  surprisingly  complete  history  of  the 
first  three  centuries  of  our  national  life.     Supplementing 


A  NOTE  TO  THE  READER 

these  annals,  there  is  presented  in  this  volume  an  illus- 
trated chapter  describing  the  tableware  which  was  used 
from  the  earliest  times  in  the  Executive  Mansion  at 
Washington,  by  our  presidents  and  their  families,  to- 
gether with  a  brief  story  of  the  Mansion  itself.  And, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  collector,  the  Checking  List  of 
American  Views  compiled  by  Dr.  Edwin  Atlee  Barber, 
together  with  a  short  explanation  of  the  Staffordshire 
potters'  marks,  is  included. 

There  are,  in  addition,  outside  of  the  historical  views 
which  make  up  the  main  body  of  this  volume,  other  im- 
portant groups  of  prints  that  are  of  concern  to  the  gen- 
eral collector  of  Staffordshire  wares,  for  example,  the 
Dr.  Syntax,  the  Don  Quixote,  the  Sir  David  Wilkie,  and 
the  ever-interesting  Willow  Pattern,  series.  For  those 
whose  collections  may  embrace  specimens  of  these  de- 
signs, a  third  Supplementary  Chapter  will  be  found,  de- 
voted to  a  short  exposition  of  their  stories.  Another 
large  and  attractive  group  of  prints  of  which  mention 
should  be  made,  as  it  claims  the  attention  of  certain 
American  collectors,  is  that  portraying  Scriptural  sub- 
jects. Specimens  of  these  illustrations  were  put  out  by 
nearly  all  of  the  prominent  Staffordshire  potters  of  the 
period  under  consideration,  and  Dr.  Barber  enumerates 
more  than  60  titles  of  this  class.  The  borders  vary 
with  the  potter,  and  the  colors  range  from  the  familiar 
deep  blue  through  the  paler  shades  of  the  later  Stafford- 
shire period. 

Still  other  fields  remain  for  the  American  collector  of 
old  Staffordshire.  One  of  them  includes  views  of  coun- 
tries other  than  the  United  States  and  Canada,  for  at 


A  NOTE  TO  THE  READER 

the  same  time  that  English  artists  were  sent  to  these 
shores  for  sketches,  many  beautiful  views  of  English 
castles,  cathedrals,  and  other  important  buildings  in 
their  own  island,  were  adopted  by  the  potters.  Foreign 
fields  were  likewise  visited  for  decorative  material — 
Italy,  France,  India,  even  the  "Gold  Coast  of  Africa," 
contributing  to  the  demand.  Masonic  emblems  or  cur- 
rent political  cartoons  as  decorations  make  an  appeal  to 
some  collectors,  old-copper-  and  silver-luster  tea-sets 
form  charming  displays,  while  Liverpool  pitchers  and 
Toby-jugs,  or  the  quaint  mantel-ornaments  of  Stafford- 
shire manufacture,  such  as  dogs,  bears,  cows,  peasant- 
figures,  flower-festooned  cottages,  etc.,  etc.,  have  a  dis- 
tinct charm  and  fascination  for  the  old-china  lover. 

Ada  Walker  Camehl. 


PART  I 

THE  COUNTRY  AND  THE  CITIES  OF  EARLY 

AMERICA 


WASHINGTON   AND   FRANKLIN   EXAMINING   A   MAP   OF 

THE  UNITED  STATES 

("Map"  Pitcher) 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 


CHAPTER  I 

A  TOUR  OF  THE  LAND 

*  *  "■'  CAN  never  tire  my  eyes  in  looking  at  such  lovely 


I 


vegetation,  so  different  from  ours  .  .  .  the  herb- 
age like  April  in  Andalusia  .  .  .  the  trees  are  as  unlike 
ours  as  night  from  day,  as  are  the  fruits,  the  herbs,  the 
stones,  and  everything,  .  .  .  and  I  feel  the  most  un- 
happy man  in  the  world  not  to  know  them.  The  moun- 
tains and  islands  seem  to  be  second  to  none  in  the  world ; 
.  .  .  there  is  much  gold,  the  Indians  wear  it  as  bracelets 
on  the  arms,  on  the  legs,  in  the  ears  and  nose,  and  round 
the  neck,  .  .  .  flocks  of  parrots  conceal  the  sun." 
These  are  among  the  expressions  with  which  Columbus 
sought  to  make  known  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns  the 
beauty,  the  richness,  and  the  strangeness  of  the  land  he 
had  taken  possession  of  in  their  name.  Americus  Ves- 
pucius,  who  visited  the  new  world  a  few  years  later  than 
Columbus,  and  whose  name  by  strange  chance  remained 
with  it,  noted  its  "altogether  delightful"  climate,  its 
many  hills,  lakes,  rivers  and  forests,  as  well  as  the  vari- 

3 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

ous  species  of  wild  animals  and  the  numerous  parrots 
with  which  it  abounded,  together  with  the  gold  which 
the  natives  told  him  was  so  abundant  it  was  little  es- 
teemed. "In  short,"  he  concludes  his  narrative,  "if 
there  is  an  earthly  paradise  in  the  world,  without  doubt 
it  must  be  not  far  from  this  place." 

True  to  these  conceptions  of  primitive  America,  which 
long  continued  to  color  the  imaginations  of  Europeans, 
are  the  fanciful  scenes  (illustrated  in  a  later  chapter) 
wherewith  the  Staffordshire  potters  sought  to  picture 
pioneer  incidents  of  American  history.  In  them,  im- 
familiar  trees  and  shrubs  are  introduced,  together  with 
Indians  gowned  in  paint  and  feathers  and  adorned  with 
golden  ornaments,  against  backgrounds  of  imaginary 
forest  or  mountain  scenery.  Parrots  appear  in  a  border 
device,  another  border  presenting  flowers  and  animals 
supposed  to  be  native  to  the  little  known  wilderness 
regions. 

With  the  passing  of  the  years  and  the  increase  of 
ocean  travel,  a  truer  and  somewhat  more  extended 
knowledge  of  the  new  world  became  diffused  throughout 
the  countries  of  Europe.  Many  people,  for  one  cause 
or  another  of  discontent,  abandoned  their  homes  in  order 
to  adventure  others  in  America;  until  the  seventeenth 
century  saw  the  Atlantic  seacoast  from  Canada  to 
Florida  dotted  with  Old- World  settlements.  French  ad- 
venturers and  missionaries  came  into  the  region  of  the 

4 


A  TOUR  OF  THE  LAND 

Saint  Lawrence  River;  English  Puritans  settled  the 
shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay;  traders  from  Holland 
made  homes  upon  Manhattan  Island;  English  planters 
sought  the  fertile  hillsides  of  Virginia;  and  Spain  sent 
her  knights  to  Florida  in  quest  of  the  Fountain  of 
Eternal  Youth. 

Land  companies  sprang  up  in  Europe,  whose  business 
it  was  to  exploit  their  broad,  and  oft-times  vague,  Ameri- 
can acres,  and  to  direct  to  them  departing  groups  of  emi- 
grants. But  even  after  the  political  independence  of  the 
new  country  had  been  achieved,  ignorance  of  the  condi- 
tions there  to  be  met  with  continued  widespread.  A 
curious  French  volume  of  the  year  1803,  entitled,  "The 
Pros  and  Cons,  or  Advice  for  Those  who  Intend  to  go  to 
the  United  States  of  America,  Followed  by  a  descrip- 
tion of  Kentucky  and  Genesee,  two  of  the  most  impor- 
tant settlements  of  the  New  World,"  was  written,  the 
author  states,  to  aid  intending  settlers,  "all  of  whom  lack 
definite  directions."  "The  United  States  of  America," 
he  begins,  "are  not  yet  entirely  cultivated,  centuries  will 
probably  roll  away  before  they  will  be."  He  then  pro- 
ceeds to  divide  the  territory  into  three  regions.  The 
first,  nearest  to  the  cities  and  the  coast,  is  best  culti- 
vated, "with  farms  so  close  together  that  it  seems  a  con- 
tinuous village" ;  the  second,  as  one  goes  into  the  interior, 
is  less  cultivated,  with  villages  small  and  far  apart,  "a 
saw  mill  and  a  flour  mill  and  a  few  houses  there  form- 

5 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

ing  an  important  settlement."  To  the  west  of  these 
regions  he  recounts  a  third — a  wilderness  of  forest  and 
stream  recently  inhabited  by  savage  tribes  who  have 
"now  departed  to  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  immense 
River  of  Mississippi,"  beyond  which  the  author's  knowl- 
edge, or  imagination,  does  not  venture  to  stray.  He 
recites  the  advantages  of  the  many  rivers — the  Hudson, 
carrying  the  products  of  New  York  State  to  the  sea- 
board; the  Delaware,  bearing  its  "multitude  of  vessels" 
laden  with  the  wealth  of  Pennsylvania  to  the  cities  at  its 
mouth;  the  Ohio,  entering  the  Mississippi  with  the  prod- 
uce of  Kentucky  to  exchange  for  "the  piastres  of  the 
Spaniards"  at  New  Orleans.  The  "Endless  Moun- 
tains" (Alleghany  range),  he  states,  divide  the  United 
States  into  two  natural  parts  and  are  its  backbone,  even 
as  the  Apennines  are  of  Italy.  The  East  is  more  popu- 
lous, and  the  West  is  where  the  new  settlements  are  lo- 
cated— one  of  these  settlements  being  toward  the  south, 
"at  the  rear  of  Virginia,"  and  called  Kentucky;  the 
other,  toward  the  north,  "at  the  rear  of  Pennsylvania," 
and  known  as  the  Genesee  country  (then  controlled  by 
the  Holland  Land  Company) .  The  cession  of  Louisiana 
to  France  by  Spain,  he  declares,  has  much  alarmed  the 
United  States  by  threatening  to  cut  off  the  navigation 
of  the  Ohio  River.  He  closes  his  interesting  volume 
with  a  Salve  to  the  great  rivers  and  lakes  of  the  New 
World,  and  the  hope  for  those  who  betake  themselves 

6 


CITY  OF  QUEBEC 
( Unknown  Maker) 


DUTCH  CHURCH  AT  ALBANY, 
1715-1806 


MEDALLION      HEADS      ON 
COVER  IN  COMMEMORA- 
TION OF  ERIE  CANAL 
(Stevenson) 


FALLS  OF  MONTMORENCI,  NEAR  QUEBEC 
{Wood) 


A  TOUR  OF  THE  LAND 

thither,  "May  they  leave  in  Europe  their  vices  and  their 
misery  and  carry  with  them  only  their  virtues." 

Maps  of  the  United  States  were  outlined  for  the  fur- 
ther convenience  of  prospective  settlers,  and  as  this  was 
the  period  when  English  potters  were  utilizing  Ameri- 
can subjects  for  decoration,  one  of  them  was  printed 
upon  a  set  of  Liverpool  pitchers.  The  design  presents 
an  oval  framing  the  section  of  the  world  then  known  as 
the  new  Republic  of  the  United  States.  The  Atlantic 
coast,  though  heavily  lined,  is  uncertain  in  detail,  and 
names  of  cities  and  towns  are  thickly  printed  against  it. 
The  northernmost  region  is  Canada,  bounded  by  the 
chain  of  the  Great  Lakes.  A  number  of  States  are 
designated,  and  the  indefinite  region  to  the  west  stretch- 
ing from  Canada  on  the  north  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  in 
the  south  is  marked  "Louisiana."  "Liberty,"  of  course, 
is  present,  in  the  form  of  her  contemporary  European 
prototype — a  female  figure  holding  aloft  a  pointed  cap. 
She  is  here  represented  calling  the  attention  of  George 
Washington  to  the  map,  the  first  President  standing  by 
her  side  with  the  inevitable  scroll,  presumably  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  in  his  hand;  while  Fame  floats 
above  them  upon  a  cloud,  bearing  a  wreath  marked 
"Washington,"  and  trumpeting  his  glory  to  the  world. 
Benjamin  Franklin,  who  assisted  in  the  achievement  of 
independence  and  who,  like  Washington,  was  a  well- 
known  figure  in  Europe,  is  seated  upon  the  opposite  side 

7 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

of  the  map,  an  open  book  in  his  hand  and  History,  per- 
sonified as  a  woman,  behind  his  chair.  A  detail  of  his- 
toric interest  is  the  pine-tree  flag  displaying  upon  its 
starry  field  the  newly  chosen  Seal  of  the  Republic,  both 
flag  and  seal  being  described  in  a  later  chapter. 

So  thoroughly  did  the  early  nineteenth-century  artists 
perform  their  task  of  securing  sketches  of  American 
scenery  for  reproduction  upon  Staffordshire  pottery,  that 
it  is  quite  possible  by  means  of  the  decorations  (a  small 
number  only  of  which  are  presented  in  this  and  the  pre- 
ceding chapter)  to  enable  the  student  of  our  early  his- 
tory to  make  a  fairly  complete  tour  of  the  land,  and  to 
look  upon  it  as  it  appeared  a  century  ago.  Starting  at 
the  northernmost  extremity  of  the  country  as  it  is  por- 
trayed upon  the  map  pitcher,  the  city  of  Quebec  is  first 
displayed  upon  a  plate,  seated,  as  at  the  present  day, 
upon  her  mighty  citadel  of  rock,  the  original  Lower 
Town  of  her  French  founder,  Champlain,  huddled  at  the 
cliff's  base  and  washed  by  the  broad  Saint  Lawrence 
River.  A  yellow  jug  of  Liverpool  manufacture  pictures 
an  imaginary  death-scene  of  the  British  General  Wolfe 
who,  in  the  year  1759,  having  successfully  scaled  the 
rock,  expired  upon  the  Plains  of  Abraham  at  the  mo- 
ment of  the  victory  of  his  troops  over  the  French — ^the 
battle  which  gave  Quebec  into  the  hands  of  the  English. 
One  artist  went  out  to  the  far-famed  falls  of  Mont- 
morenci,  a  few  miles  above  Quebec,  and  in  his  sketch 

8 


A  TOUR  OF  THE  LAND 

one  looks  upon  the  imposing  cataract  as  it  appeared  be- 
fore its  volume  had  been  reduced,  by  mechanical  use,  to 
the  trickling  stream  which  meets  the  eye  of  the  visitor 
of  to-day. 

Passing  southward,  the  mountain  ranges,  country 
roadways,  and  log  houses  of  primitive  New  Hampshire, 
Vermont  and  Massachusetts,  are  displayed  in  a  variety 
of  sketches ;  a  fort  in  Rhode  Island  is  pictured ;  while  a 
separate  chapter  records  the  appearance  of  the  city  of 
Boston.  Examining  the  beautiful  Pittsfield  platter- 
scene,  the  beholder  pauses  to  learn  its  story.  In  Revolu- 
tionary times,  it  is  recorded,  a  primitive  Meeting  House 
stood  upon  the  site  of  the  white  church  facing  the  Com- 
mon, whose  pastor  was  the  Reverend  Thomas  Allen,  an 
ardent  patriot  who  had  served  as  chaplain  to  the  Ameri- 
can army  under  Washington.  Upon  the  Sabbath  morn- 
ing following  his  return  to  Pittsfield  (so  the  story  goes). 
Parson  Allen  entered  his  pulpit,  clad  in  Continental  uni- 
form concealed  beneath  his  gown.  He  began  his  ser- 
mon, but  his  zeal  for  his  country's  cause  becoming  so 
overpowering  he  soon  threw  aside  his  robe  and  dis- 
played himself  to  his  people  in  army  uniform.  He 
stepped  down  from  his  pulpit  and  led  the  men  of  the 
congregation  to  the  Common  in  front  of  the  church,  and 
under  the  elm  tree  he  formed  them  into  the  first  de- 
tachment of  Berkshire  Minutemen.  The  elm  became 
therefrom  one  of  the  historic  trees  of  America;  "from 

9 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Greylock  to  Monument  Mountain,"  the  saying  ran,  there 
being  no  inanimate  thing  "so  revered  and  venerable." 
The  tree  may  be  seen  in  the  illustration  as  it  appeared 
about  the  year  1825,  after  a  fence  had  been  built  around 
it  to  preserve  it  from  destruction  as  a  hitching  post 
for  horses.  In  1861,  it  was  felled  by  a  lightning  stroke 
and  its  sound  wood  was  made  into  souvenirs;  at  the 
present  time,  in  the  center  of  the  beautiful,  elm-shaded 
park  of  the  city  of  Pittsfield,  a  sun-dial  erected  by  the 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  marks  the  his- 
toric spot  where  the  old  elm  stood.  To  the  right  of  the 
white  church,  which  is  the  First  Congregational  edifice, 
the  illustration  presents  the  old  Town  Hall,  and  at  its 
left  the  First  Baptist  Church,  with  the  Berkshire  Hotel 
by  its  side. 

A  view  of  the  town  square  of  New  Haven,  Connecti- 
cut, printed  in  the  lighter  colors  of  a  later  period  of 
Staffordshire  potting,  exhibits  Yale  College,  together 
with  the  Connecticut  State  House.  In  contrast  to  the 
interest  displayed  by  the  old-time  artists  in  the  halls  of 
Harvard  which  resulted  in  numerous  pottery  souvenirs, 
Yale  College,  though  second  only  to  the  Boston  institu- 
tion in  age,  appears  in  few  decorations  only,  the  work 
of  less  important  potters. 

The  Hudson  River  affords  a  delightful  imaginary 
excursion  possible  to  be  made  by  means  of  the  many 
illustrations  of  its  beauties  which  exist  upon  pottery, 

zo 


YALE  BUILDINGS— STATE  HOUSE,  NEW  HAVEN 
{Unknown  Maker) 


LOG  CABIN 

W.  H,  Harrison  Campaign 

(y.  Ridgway) 


HEADWATERS  OF  THE  JUNIATA  RIVER,  PA. 
{W.  Adams  &  Sons) 


TROY  ON  THE  HUDSON 
{Clews,  "Pictviresque  Views") 


A  TOUR  OF  THE  LAND 

delightful  by  reason  of  the  scenery  and  historical  asso- 
ciations, as  well  as  for  the  presence,  rare  in  our  land, 
of  the  legendary  folk  who  people  its  banks.  One  Eng- 
lish potter,  James  Clews,  decorated  a  set  of  plates  in 
various  colors  with  views  copied  from  water  color 
sketches  of  Hudson  River  scenery  painted  by  W.  G. 
Wall  and  reproduced  in  England  in  a  volume  called 
"The  Hudson  River  Portfolio."  Upon  the  back  of  each 
plate,  printed  in  a  scroll,  is  the  legend,  "Picturesque 
Views  of  the  Hudson  River."  The  border  of  the  series, 
a  spray  of  rose  branches  with  parrots  perched  upon 
them,  is  one  of  the  most  graceful  to  be  found.  It  is  of 
interest  to  know  that  in  the  year  1836,  some  time  after 
these  plates  were  printed,  James  Clews  came  to  the 
United  States  and  engaged  in  potting  in  Indiana,  but 
being  unsuccessful  he  remained  but  a  short  time  and 
returned  to  end  his  days  in  England.  Enoch  Wood 
also  printed  a  series  of  Hudson  River  views  in  deep 
blue  color,  with  his  famous  sea-shell  border. 

Setting  out  from  New  York,  the  illustrations  of 
which  another  chapter  presents,  the  first  view  in  the 
Hudson  River  series  is  of  West  Point.  High  on  a 
plateau  above  the  river  and  crowned  with  lofty  moun- 
tain peaks,  may  be  seen  the  small  group  of  buildings 
which  was  the  nucleus  of  the  present  Military  Academy, 
founded  in  1802.  Newburgh  is  portrayed  as  a  small 
village  on  the  river  bank,  appearing  no  doubt  as  it  did 

II 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

on  the  evening  when  General  Lafayette  stepped  ashore 
on  his  famous  visit  in  1824,  and  was  driven  through  its 
muddy,  torch-lighted  streets  to  the  Orange  Hotel  where 
impatient  guests  awaited  his  tardy  arrival.  One  may 
possibly  discover  in  the  picture  the  balcony  upon  which 
the  French  General  presented  himself  in  order  to  quell 
the  tumult  of  the  crowds  below. 

The  traveler  presently  enters  the  enchanted  region 
of  the  Catskills,  the  legendary  abode  of  the  ancient 
squaw  whose  duty  it  is  forever  to  open  the  doors  of 
day  and  night,  to  hang  up  new  moons  in  the  sky,  and 
to  cut  the  old  ones  into  stars.  In  these  oft-pictured 
wilderness  heights  dwells  Manitou,  the  great  Indian 
Spirit,  who  in  the  form  of  a  bear  was  wont  to  lead  the 
redmen  a  chase  through  the  forests — and  hark !  Is  not 
the  vague  rumbling  sound  reverberating  through  the 
valleys  the  echo  of  the  ninepins  of  Hendrick  Hudson 
and  his  somber  crew?  A  famous  inn  situated  high  in 
the  mountains.  Pine  Orchard  House,  gleams  white 
against  the  dusky  pines,  as  one  continues  up  the  river, 
and  here  and  there  along  the  banks  picturesque  mills 
and  villages  and  mountain  passes  are,  by  means  of  the 
illustrations,  opened  to  his  view. 

Albany,  the  oldest  city  in  the  Union,  boasts  a  state 
Capitol,  fine  churches,  and  a  harbor  filled  with  busy 
shipping;  one  decoration  shows  a  passage  to  the  city 
from  the  islands  made  in  a  ferry  boat  called  a  "horse's 

12 


A  TOUR  OF  THE  LAND 

back,"  carrying  both  animals  and  men.  Albany  at  the 
period  of  the  imaginary  tour  has  a  population  of  about 
16,000  people,  and  is  one  of  the  most  important  com- 
mercial cities  in  the  United  States,  all  western  produce 
entering  by  way  of  the  newly-built  Erie  Canal,  and 
shipped  thence  to  eastern  ports,  twenty-four  steamboats 
plying  the  river  between  Albany  and  New  York.  A 
covered  vegetable  dish,  whose  medallion  portraits  of  the 
four  men  whom  the  English  potters  commonly  asso- 
ciated with  the  Erie  Canal  place  it  among  the  me- 
morials of  that  enterprise,  presents  upon  the  surface  of 
its  interior  the  Dutch  church  of  Albany,  one  of  the 
seven  churches  of  the  country  to  be  perpetuated  in  pot- 
tery decoration.  The  original  edifice  was  erected  in  the 
year  1652,  a  second  in  1655,  around  which  the  walls 
of  the  third  structure,  here  shown,  were  carried  up  and 
enclosed  without  disturbing  the  old  edifice.  This  illus- 
tration is  of  importance  as  presenting  one  of  the  earliest 
types  of  church  building  in  America,  its  square  propor- 
tions and  its  pyramidal  roof  topped  with  a  belfry  con- 
trasting with  the  rectangular  bodies  and  tall  slender 
spires  which  characterize  many  of  the  later  models. 
This  structure  resembles  in  its  outlines  the  "Old  Ship 
Meeting  House,"  a  co-temporary  which  still  stands  at 
Hingham,  Massachusetts.  The  interior  of  the  Albany 
church  was  gayly  painted  and  ornamented,  with  a  pul- 
pit of  polished  Dutch  oak.     Low  galleries,  to  which  the 

13 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

men  were  relegated,  lined  three  sides  of  the  interior, 
and  a  bell  rope  hung  down  in  the  center  aisle  which 
when  not  in  use  was  wound  round  a  post  set  in  the  cen- 
ter for  the  purpose.  Rich  stained  glass  windows  dis- 
played the  arms  of  eminent  Dutch  families,  members  of 
whom  were  accustomed  to  bring  hot  bricks  or  portable 
stoves  to  keep  their  feet  warm  during  the  long  winter 
service,  the  men  sitting  with  hats  on  their  heads  and 
their  hands  in  muffs.  Deacons  went  around  with  col- 
lection bags  on  the  end  of  long  poles,  to  which  little  bells 
were  attached,  their  tinkling  arousing  any  sleepers  and 
preventing  drowsiness  from  being  an  excuse  for  failure 
to  contribute.  The  structure  was  demolished  in  1806, 
much  of  the  material  being  put  into  the  Second  Dutch 
Reformed  Church. 

When  in  the  year  1824,  Lafayette  looked  upon  the 
town  of  Troy  with  its  8,000  inhabitants,  appearing  much 
as  it  is  pictured  upon  the  plate,  he  exclaimed  in  aston- 
ishment, "What!  Has  this  city  risen  from  the  earth 
by  enchantment!"  For  here  it  was  that  he,  in  Revo- 
lutionary times,  with  difficulty  could  find  a  cup  of  milk 
and  a  bit  of  Indian  bread  at  the  two  or  three  humble 
cabins  which  then  composed  the  settlement.  The  north- 
ernmost of  the  Hudson  River  series  of  sketches  pre- 
sents the  village  of  Luzerne,  among  the  Adirondacks 
near  the  river's  source,  while,  continuing  northward, 

14 


CITY  OF  ALBANY 
(Wood) 


TABLE  ROCK,  NIAGARA  FALLS 
{Wood) 


PRIMITIVE  FERRY  AT  ALBANY 

RENSSELAER  ISLAND 

(Unknown  Maker) 


A  TOUR  OF  THE  LAND 

Lake  George  may  be  seen — a  shining  mirror  framed  in 
wooded  hills. 

Several  charming  bits  of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsyl- 
vania river  and  mountain  scenery  may  be  seen  upon 
specimens  of  old  pottery.  The  Falls  of  Passaic,  on  a 
sugar  bowl,  were  famous  for  their  beauty  a  century 
ago;  very  lovely,  too,  is  the  view  of  the  headwaters 
of  the  Juniata  River,  the  stream  which  flows  so  peace- 
fully through  southern  Pennsylvania.  In  the  distance 
rise  the  rugged  peaks  of  the  "Endless  Mountains,"  in 
the  foreground  may  be  seen  the  trees  and  flowers  na- 
tive to  the  region — and,  may  not  the  tourist  with  bundle 
slung  over  shoulder,  crossing  the  rustic  bridge,  be  the 
very  traveler  from  England  who,  struck  with  the  charm 
of  the  spot,  set  down  his  burden  for  awhile  and  added 
this  scene  to  his  sketch  book?  Pittsburgh  is  presented 
as  a  row  of  low  buildings  bordering  the  banks  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Monongahela  and  Allegheny  rivers, 
with  two  primitive  vessels  sailing  past  the  town.  In 
the  nearby  village  of  Allegheny  is  the  Penitentiary,  an 
imposing  structure  for  so  early  a  date.  When  La- 
fayette visited  Pittsburgh,  about  the  time  these  pictures 
were  made,  it  had  a  population  of  8,000  and  the  French 
party  were  much  interested  in  examining  the  manufac- 
turing plants  for  which  Pittsburgh  was  already  famous. 
Among  the  objects  presented  to  Lafayette  were  some 

IS 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

mirrors  made  in  this  city  which  he  declared  equal  to  any 
produced  in  France.  Continuing  southward,  Virginia 
landscapes  of  rolling  hills  and  substantial  plantation 
homes  are  spread  out  to  view,  while  the  attractions  of 
the  cities  of  Baltimore  and  Washington  are  set  forth  in 
separate  chapters. 

Before  the  days  of  railroads,  few  tourists  made  the 
long  and  difficult  and  oft-times  dangerous  journey  into 
the  sparsely  settled  regions  of  the  far  South  and  West, 
sections  now  known  as  the  States  of  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  Michigan,  Ken- 
tucky, and  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers ; 
for  this  reason,  a  less  number  of  pictured  views  of  these 
localities  are  to  be  found.  The  cities  of  Richmond, 
Charleston,  Savannah,  New  Orleans,  Columbus,  and 
Sandusky  are  exhibited  in  the  old-china  records  by  one 
or  two  views  each.  Detroit,  no  doubt,  appears  here  as 
it  did  during  the  exciting  period  of  the  War  of  1812, 
when  the  city  was  one  of  the  disputed  battle-grounds 
upon  the  western  frontier.  Its  houses,  as  may  be  noted, 
faced  the  river,  and,  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  protec- 
tion, they  were  set  close  together  in  well  ordered  rows, 
their  farm  lands,  like  the  tails  of  Bo-Peep's  sheep,  "be- 
hind them."  The  several  examples  of  sailing  craft  pic- 
tured in  Detroit  harbor,  one  of  them  a  newly  invented 
stern-wheeler,  are  also  of  interest.  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, offers  to  view  a  substantial  stone  structure — ^the 

16 


A  TOUR  OF  THE  LAND 

Marine  Hospital,  a  government  home  for  those  who 
sailed  the  inland  rivers  and  lakes;  while  Lexington,  in 
the  same  State,  boasts  Transylvania  University,  erected 
in  1783,  the  first  institution  for  learning  west  of  the 
Alleghanies,  from  whose  halls,  the  French  author  al- 
ready quoted  gravely  asserts,  a  printing  press  sent  out 
each  week  a  gazette  "to  even  the  most  distant  farms 
with  all  the  news  of  both  the  Old  and  the  New  World." 

Beyond  the  Mississippi  lies,  at  the  period  of  this  im- 
aginary tour,  the  unknown — a  region  of  vast  extent  and 
vague  knowledge,  called  Louisiana,  a  region  of  mystery 
wherein  fancy  pictured  limitless  plains  crossed  by 
rushing  floods  and  peopled  by  savage  Indian  tribes. 
The  geographers  of  the  day  taught  that  the  Mississippi 
separated  Louisiana  "from  the  United  States  and  West 
Florida"  on  the  east,  its  western  boundary  being  New 
Mexico  and  "a  ridge  of  mountains  generally  denom- 
inated the  Shining  Mountains,  which  divide  the  western 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  from  those  that  flow  into  the 
Pacific  Ocean."  Not  until  the  discovery  of  California 
gold  in  1849,  and  the  consequent  tide  of  humanity  to- 
ward it,  was  the  region  of  the  literally  shining  moun- 
tains opened  to  the  general  knowledge  of  the  world. 

The  imaginary  Tour  of  Colonial  America,  conducted 
by  means  of  contemporary  pottery,  comes  to  an  end 
at  the  most  celebrated  spot  upon  the  continent — Ni- 
agara Falls.    To  look  upon  the  "great  Cataract  of  Ni- 

17 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

agara"  was  the  ambition  of  every  early  European 
traveler  to  America,  and  for  centuries  the  journey 
thither  was  the  world's  "grand  tour."  First  reports 
of  this  wonderful  fall  of  water  came  from  the  Indians 
who,  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  told 
Champlain  and  the  Huron  missionaries  of  a  great  body 
of  water  which  "fell  from  a  rock  higher  than  the  tallest 
pine  trees."  A  few  years  later,  French  officers  sta- 
tioned at  Fort  Niagara  made  sketches  of  the  Falls  and 
carried  them  to  Europe,  together  with  tales  of  the 
grandeur  of  the  spectacle  hidden  in  the  wilds  of  this 
new  country.  Eager  tourists,  fired  by  the  accounts, 
came  over  to  see  the  wonder,  walking  all  the  way  from 
Boston  or  New  York,  or  driving  over  almost  impassable 
roads.  Each  gazer  upon  the  spectacle  felt  called  upon 
to  record  his  impressions,  and  many  and  varied  are  the 
emotions  chronicled;  to  some,  the  sight  is  an  "ode"  or 
a  "rhapsody";  for  others,  its  influence  depresses  the 
spirits.  One  tourist  is  disappointed  because  he  is  not, 
as  he  expected,  met  by  a  "vision  of  foam  and  fury  and 
dizzy  cliffs,  and  the  ocean  tumbling  down  out  of  the 
sky."  A  practical  English  captain,  whose  mind  was 
probably  filled  with  the  new  ideas  of  steam-power, 
longed  to  carry  the  Falls  to  Italy,  pour  their  volume  into 
the  crater  of  Vesuvius,  and  thus  "create  the  largest 
steam  boiler  that  ever  entered  into  the  imagination  of 
man!"    Lafayette,  as  he  looked  upon  the  cataract,  re- 

i8 


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O    JO 

to 
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o 
<1 


A  TOUR  OF  THE  LAND 

g^etted  that  their  distance  from  his  estate  in  France  pre- 
vented his  buying  them. 

Many  tourists  ventured  out  upon  the  broad  flat  rock 
which  overhung  the  Horseshoe  Fall,  the  celebrated  Table 
Rock,  the  sketch  being  of  special  interest  as  the  rock 
no  longer  stands.  Table  Rock  was  an  excellent  point 
from  which  to  view  the  Falls,  from  it  one  being  also  able 
to  gaze  down  into  the  brilliant  green  flood  directly  un- 
derneath him.  At  noonday,  on  June  25,  1850,  the  great 
Rock  fell.  The  driver  of  an  omnibus  driving  out  upon 
the  rock  to  wash  his  vehicle,  had  unhitched  his  horses 
and  was  at  work,  when  of  a  sudden  he  heard  the  rock 
upon  which  he  was  standing  give  a  loud  cracking  sound. 
No  sooner  had  he  led  his  horses  to  the  land  than  the 
huge  mass  went  down,  carrying  his  empty  omnibus  with 
it  into  the  gulf  below. 

Niagara  Falls  has  been  called  the  most  pictured  sub- 
ject in  the  world,  and  the  Niagara  of  Art  equals  in  in- 
terest and  variety  the  literary  expressions  it  inspired. 
The  first  Niagara  picture  was  drawn  as  early  as  1697, 
from  a  description  of  it  given  by  Father  Hennepin,  a 
French  missionary  who  accompanied  La  Salle  upon  his 
expedition  into  the  Niagara  region.  In  this  picture  the 
English  artist  in  imagination  looks  down  upon  the  Falls 
and  sees  the  river  bordered  with  mountains  all  the  way 
to  Lake  Erie.  Three  falls  of  water  appear.  Goat  Island 
is  but  a  slender  pillar  of  rock,  and  from  the  banks  and 

19 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

the  island  rise  curious  tropical  trees.  This  old  copper 
plate  engraving  was  for  many  years  the  only  Niagara 
picture,  and  from  it  the  untraveled  world  gained  its 
knowledge  of  the  wonder.  The  Hennepin  picture  was 
many  times  copied,  and  each  succeeding  artist,  who  had 
never  seen  the  Falls,  added  touches  according  to  his 
fancy — a  colony  of  busy  beavers  in  the  foreground 
gnawing  down  trees,  or  a  band  of  redmen  chasing  bison 
across  the  stream  below  the  Falls.  A  richer  imagina- 
tion put  in  Elijah  emerging  in  a  chariot  of  fire  from  the 
clouds  above  the  cataract.  Occasionally  three  distinct 
falls  of  water  are  found  in  an  old  print,  the  sharp  bend 
in  the  Horseshoe  Fall  being  difficult  for  the  unskilled 
artist  to  depict.  Not  until  nearly  a  century  later  than 
Father  Hennepin's  picture  did  the  world  possess,  in 
drawings  from  the  original,  a  more  exact  Niagara. 

The  Niagara  of  the  early  sketches  is  the  Niagara  of 
the  Staffordshire  potters,  two  of  whose  views  are  pre- 
sented. In  the  first  picture  one  seems  to  be  looking 
upon  the  rushing  flood  from  a  point  on  the  American 
side  above  the  Falls.  Three  distinct  cascades  are  visi- 
ble, the  familiar  expanse  of  Goat  Island  has  shrunk  to 
a  tree-crowned  rock,  and — can  it  be?  Yes,  there  stand 
the  pioneer  Niagara  Falls  bridal  couple! — the  first  of 
the  long  series  of  newly  wed  whose  descendants  still 
haunt  the  witching  scenes  about  this  mighty  cataract. 
The  bridegroom  is  pointing  with  his  walking  stick  into 

20 


A  TOUR  OF  THE  LAND 

the  chasm,  evidently  explaining  the  mysteries  of  the 
swirling  torrent  to  the  wondering  mind  of  his  bride,  who 
stands  meekly  by  his  side  arrayed  in  shawl  and  poke 
bonnet — glass  of  early  nineteenth  century  fashion !  The 
second  view  of  the  Niagara  spectacle  is  more  fanciful 
than  the  first,  and  is  no  doubt  a  composition  made  from 
old  prints  by  one  who  had  never  seen  the  original.  In 
this  scene  the  eye  is  carried  up  the  gorge  to  the  curve 
of  the  Horseshoe  Fall;  Goat  Island  and  the  American 
Fall  are  quite  insignificant;  and  peculiar  semi-tropical 
trees  and  foliage  conceal  from  view  the  rugged  banks 
with  which  our  eyes  are  familiar. 


21 


CHAPTER  II 
"the  crooked  but  interesting  town  of  boston*' 

IT  has  been  said  that  in  order  to  understand  America 
of  the  present  one  must  know  Boston  of  the  Fathers, 
and  by  what  more  delightful  means  may  one  acquire  a 
knowledge  of  early  Boston  than  from  a  study  of  the  pic- 
tured china  handed  down  from  the  Fathers  themselves? 
For,  upon  the  blue  plates  and  platters,  tea-pots  and  cream 
jugs  which  once  graced  the  tables  of  our  New  England 
forefathers,  the  greater  part  of  the  early  city  is  spread 
out  to  view — the  harbor;  the  streets  and  the  Common; 
the  State  House  and  the  Court  House  in  which  the 
Fathers  made  the  laws ;  several  of  the  mansions  in  which 
they  dwelt,  and  two  of  the  churches  in  which  they  wor- 
shiped; the  warehouses  of  commerce;  the  Hospital  and 
Almshouse  for  retreat  in  illness  and  poverty,  and  the 
pleasure  resort  of  leisure  hours ;  finally,  the  Library  and 
College  which  bred  and  fostered  that  leadership  in  let- 
ters upon  which  the  citizens  of  Boston  long  justly  plumed 
themselves. 

Boston  was  settled  by  some  of  the  earliest  homemakers 
to  come  to  the  American  shores.  About  the  year  1634, 
John  Winthrop  being  Governor  of  Massachusetts  Col- 

22 


RARE  VIEW  OF  UNIVERSITY  HALL,  HARVARD  COLLEGE 

(R.  S.  W.) 
(In  the  collection  of  the  Author) 


POTTER'S  MARK  ON  BACK  WITH  WRONG 
TITLE 


'THE  INTERESTING  TOWN  OF  BOSTON" 

ony,  the  settlers  upon  the  shores  of  the  Bay  purchased 
of  William  Blackstone,  the  hermit  who  lived  on  the  sunny 
slope  of  one  of  the  three  hills  which  bordered  the  Bay, 
his  estate  "lying  within  the  said  Neck  called  Boston," 
every  inhabitant  agreeing  to  pay  six  shillings,  "none  less 
and  some  more."  This  sum  was  collected  and  paid  to 
Mr.  Blackstone,  "to  his  full  satisfaction  for  his  whole 
right,  reserving  only  about  six  acres  on  the  point  com- 
monly called  Blackstone's  Point,  on  part  whereof  his 
then  dwelling  house  stood."  Two  views  present  Boston 
harbor  as  it  appeared  nearly  two  centuries  after  the 
original  purchase,  sketches  made  from  the  heights  of 
Dorchester  and  Chelsea.  In  them  may  be  seen  the  Bay 
and  shores  in  a  very  primitive  condition.  In  the  Chelsea 
view  is  the  bridge  which  connected  that  township  with 
the  main  city,  spanning  "the  River  that  renders  their 
attendance  on  Town-Meetings  very  difficult,"  as  the  pre- 
amble of  the  Act  of  Separation  of  Chelsea  from  Boston 
in  the  year  1737  reads,  adding,  "and  whereas  they  have 
a  long  time  since  erected  a  Meeting  House  in  that  Dis- 
trict." Sailing  craft  rest  upon  the  water,  and  in  the  dis- 
tance may  be  dimly  discerned  the  three  hills  (now  but  a 
memory)  which  gave  the  settlement  its  original  name, 
Tri-Mountain,  an  echo  of  which  lingers  still  in  "Tre- 
mont"  Street.  Above  the  summit  of  the  center  hill, 
named  Beacon,  soars  the  dome  of  the  new  State  House, 
while  the  spires  of  numerous  churches  tower  above  the 

23 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

housetops.  A  group  of  early  Bostonians  occupy  the 
foreground  of  the  picture,  gowned  in  the  fashion  of  the 
early  nineteenth  century,  a  style  of  dress  which  pre- 
vails in  all  of  the  old-china  prints. 

Early  Boston  fringed  the  harbor,  the  western  limit  of 
the  city  until  after  the  Revolution  being  the  foot  of  the 
Common  on  the  margin  of  the  Back  Bay ;  Boylston  Street 
was  "Frog  Pond"  well  into  the  nineteenth  century;  and, 
until  after  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  western  reach 
of  Beacon  Hill  was  but  a  place  of  pasture  for  cows, 
whereon  the  barberry  and  the  wild  rose  grew  at  will. 
In  early  nineteenth-century  years,  Boston  numbered  be- 
tween fifty  and  eighty  thousand  inhabitants  and  was  a 
city  eminently  English  in  character  and  appearance,  al- 
though after  independence  had  been  declared  an  attempt 
had  been  made  to  efface  the  hated  British  stamp  by 
changing  the  names  of  some  of  the  streets — King  and 
Queen,  for  instance,  to  State  and  Court.  But  symbols 
over  shop  doors  still  reflected  London,  taverns  bore  the 
signs  of  famous  London  inns,  and  even  to  this  day  some 
obscure  court  or  alley  may  be  found  clinging  to  its  first 
London-flavored  name. 

Unique  among  the  features  of  American  cities  is  Bos- 
ton Common,  a  spacious  park  in  the  heart  of  the  business 
and  shopping  district.  The  Common  was  a  portion  of 
the  estate  purchased  of  William  Blackstone,  laid  out  for 
use,  old  chronicles  record,  as  "a  training  field  and  the 

24 


CO 

< 

Q 
Z 


> 

< 


bl 


"THE  INTERESTING  TOWN  OF  BOSTON" 

feeding  of  cattle."  The  chronicle  also  states  that  all 
persons  admitted  to  inhabit  Boston  were  "to  have  equal 
rights  of  Commonage,  others  not  unless  they  inherit  it." 
It  was  further  ordered  that  but  seventy  "milch  kine" 
might  be  kept  on  the  Common,  but  that  "Elder  Oliver's 
horse  may  go  there,"  and  that  a  fine  be  imposed  for  any 
cow  or  horse  except  the  seventy  "if  found  upon  ye  Neck." 
A  delightful  letter  written  by  an  English  visitor  to  Bos- 
ton in  the  year  1740  gives  a  picture  not  only  of  the  Com- 
mon, but  also  of  the  habits  and  customs  of  early  Boston- 
ians.  He  says :  "For  their  domestic  amusement,  every 
afternoon  after  drinking  tea,  the  gentlemen  and  ladies 
walk  the  Mall,  and  from  thence  adjourn  to  one  another's 
houses  to  spend  the  evening — those  that  are  not  disposed 
to  attend  the  evening  lectures,  which  they  may  do,  if  they 
please,  six  nights  in  seven  the  year  round.  What  they 
call  the  Mall  is  a  walk  on  a  fine  green  Common  adjoining 
to  the  southwest  side  of  the  Town.  It  is  near  half  a  mile 
over,  with  two  rows  of  young  trees  planted  opposite  to 
each  other,  with  a  fine  footway  between  in  imitation  of 
St.  James's  Park;  and  part  of  the  bay  of  the  sea  which 
encircles  the  Town,  taking  its  course  along  the  north- 
west side  of  the  Common — by  which  it  is  bounded  on  the 
one  side,  and  by  the  country  on  the  other — forms  a  beau- 
tiful canal  in  view  of  the  walk." 

Upon  the  Common,  in  Colonial  times,  the  British 
troops  set  up  camps  and  reviewed,  the  uneven  surface  of 

25 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

the  ground  where  they  dug  their  cellars  and  pitched  their 
tents  being  still  visible  at  the  time  the  present  sketch  of 
the  Common  was  made,  probably  about  the  year  1820. 
Upon  the  Common,  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  the 
famous  Liberty  Elm  stood,  from  whose  limbs,  old  records 
say,  witches  were  tortured,  Quakers  hung,  and,  in  Revo- 
lutionary times,  the  effigy  of  a  hated  Britsh  officer  some- 
times dangled.  Upon  the  Common,  on  the  eve  of  April 
16,  1775,  the  British  troops  assembled  before  marching 
upon  Lexington  and  Concord;  here,  upon  June  17  of  the 
same  year,  the  redcoats  gathered  before  setting  out  to 
quell  the  rebellion  at  Bunker  Hill;  and  later,  upon  this 
same  ground,  the  Revolution  ended  and  independence  de- 
clared, the  British  army  paraded  under  General  Howe 
before  leaving  the  city  forever. 

The  "feeding  of  cattle"  upon  the  Common  continued 
long  after  Boston  became  a  populous  city,  and  as  late  as 
the  year  1830  (when  laws  were  enacted  to  put  an  end 
to  the  practice)  the  tinkling  of  cow  bells  and  the  lowing 
of  cattle,  as  the  animals  made  their  way  to  and  from  the 
pasture  ground,  were  pleasant  and  homely  sounds  to  be 
heard  about  its  hills  and  dales.  The  illustration  presents 
several  of  the  early  Boston  cows  contentedly  dozing  in 
the  shade  of  the  trees,  the  winding  paths  which  they  have 
worn  being,  it  is  claimed,  the  original  tracings  of  certain 
streets — a  saying  which  reached  the  ears  of  the  English 
potters  and  inspired  the  memorial  of  a  Liverpool  pitcher 

26 


ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  BOSTuN 
{Ridgway) 


LAWRENCE  MANSION,  BOSTON 

Near  Corner  Park  St.  and  Beacon  St.,  Facing  Common — 

Spire  of  Park  St.  Church  Rises  above  Roof 

(Ralph  Stevenson) 


"THE  INTERESTING  TOWN  OF  BOSTON" 

inscribed,  "Success  to  the  Crooked  but  Interesting  Town 
of  Boston." 

A  number  of  interesting  details  of  the  Common  and 
its  neighborhood  as  it  appeared  a  century  ago  may  be 
studied  in  the  platter  decoration — ^the  fence  which  was 
put  up  in  1820  to  inclose  Beacon  Mall;  the  tree-bordered 
Mall  itself  along  which  equestrians  are  pictured  as  pass- 
ing; and  the  newly  erected  mansions  facing  the  Common 
upon  Park  and  Beacon  streets.  Park  Street  had  been 
laid  out  in  1802  as  a  dignified  approach  to  the  new  State 
House,  the  street  itself  as  well  as  the  mansions  which 
lined  it  being  designed  by  Bulfinch,  the  architect  of  the 
State  House  and  the  greatest  early  exponent  of  the 
classic  revival  in  American  architecture.  Beacon  Street 
was  originally  known  as  "the  lane  which  led  to  the  Alms- 
house," the  public  home  for  the  poor  being  situated  upon 
the  corner  of  the  present  Park  and  Beacon  streets.  By 
the  side  of  the  Almshouse  stood  the  Bridewell  and  the 
Workhouse,  and  where  Park  Street  Church  stands  was 
the  city  granary.  These  buildings  had  all  been  removed 
at  the  time  the  present  sketch  was  made,  the  homes  of 
Boston's  Fathers  occupying  their  sites.  The  house  im- 
mediately at  the  right  of  the  State  House  in  the  illustra- 
tion was  the  home  of  Joseph  Coolidge,  the  tall  one  below 
it,  at  the  corner  of  Park  and  Beacon  streets,  being  the 
Thomas  Amory  mansion  which  was  built  on  the  site  of 
the  old  gambrel-roofed  Almshouse.     In  later  years  the 

27 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Amory  house  was  divided  into  four  dwellings,  the  Hon. 
George  Ticknor  home  being  the  part  which  faced  the 
Common;  in  1825  the  entire  mansion  was  rented  for  the 
use  of  General  Lafayette  and  his  suite.  The  last  house 
at  the  right  was  for  many  years  the  home  of  Governor 
Christopher  Gore,  and  below  this  stood  the  dwelling  of 
Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.  At  the  extreme  left  of  the  platter 
sketch  may  be  seen  the  home  of  the  Hon.  John 
Phillips,  father  of  Wendell  Phillips  and  first  mayor  of 
Boston.  By  its  side  stands  the  home  of  Dr.  John  Joy, 
and,  overtopping  this,  the  Thomas  Perkins  mansion. 
At  the  left  of  the  State  House  may  be  seen  the  Hancock 
mansion,  a  separate  picture  of  which  is  also  presented, 
but  this  view  is  of  peculiar  interest  as  showing  the 
wooden  wing  which  was  added  for  the  purpose  of  fur- 
nishing a  more  spacious  apartment  for  the  balls  and  re- 
ceptions for  which  the  mansion  became  famous. 

Several  of  these  old  time  Bostonians  lie  to-day  in  the 
burial  plot  in  the  Common  before  their  doors. 

With  the  passing  of  the  years,  Romance  has  also  added 
its  touch  to  the  old  Common,  many  a  courtship  having 
been  carried  on  while  strolling  through  its  shady  paths — 
"Whom  does  Arabella  walk  with  now?"  was  in  olden 
times  a  significant  question  in  circles  of  gossiping  friends 
or  in  anxious  deliberations  of  family  counsels.  To-day, 
at  the  entrance  to  the  Long  Mall  which  starts  at  Beacon 
Street  Mall  and  runs  across  the  Common's  length  to  Tre- 

28 


"THE  INTERESTING  TOWN  OF  BOSTON" 

mont  and  Boylston  streets,  one  may  read  the  sign  "Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes  Path,"  a  title  given  it  from  the  follow- 
ing pretty  story  of  the  Autocrat's  proposal  to  the  school- 
mistress: "We  called  it  the  long  path  and  were  fond 
of  it.  I  felt  very  weak  indeed  (though  of  a  tolerably 
robust  habit)  as  we  came  opposite  the  head  of  this  path 
on  that  morning.  I  think  I  tried  to  speak  twice  without 
making  myself  distinctly  audible.  At  last  I  got  out  the 
question,  'Will  you  take  the  long  path  with  me?'  'Cer- 
tainly,' said  the  schoolmistress,  'with  much  pleasure.' 
'Think,'  I  said,  'before  you  answer ;  if  you  take  the  long 
path  with  me  now,  I  shall  interpret  it  that  we  are  to  part 
no  more !'  The  schoolmistress  stepped  back  with  a  sud- 
den movement,  as  if  an  arrow  had  struck  her.  One  of 
the  long  granite  blocks  used  as  seats  was  hard  by,  'Pray, 
sit  down,'  I  said.  'No,  no,'  she  answered  softly,  'I  will 
walk  the  long  path  with  you.'  "  Reduced  to-day  to  about 
fifty  acres,  the  old  Common  is  regarded  with  something 
akin  to  reverence  by  the  older  generation  of  Bostonians, 
and,  although  from  time  to  time  encroachments  have 
been  made  upon  its  territory,  public  opinion  may  be 
counted  upon  to  rise  in  indignation  at  any  suggestion  of 
radical  interference  with  its  quiet  and  dignified  acres. 

The  most  important  building  facing  the  Common  is 
the  State  House,  once  a  favorite  subject  for  the  decora- 
tion of  Staffordshire  dinner-sets,  and  later,  as  Dr. 
Holmes  declared,  the  "hub  of  the  entire  solar  system." 

29 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

The  State  House  was  designed  by  Bulfinch  on  classic 
lines  and  in  a  style  of  elegance  heretofore  unknown  in 
the  city,  its  columned  fagade  and  gilded  dome  always 
distinguishing  it  and  ranging  it  even  at  the  present  day 
among  the  splendid  buildings  of  the  United  States.  The 
State  House  was  erected  upon  a  portion  of  Governor 
Hancock's  pasture  lot,  purchased  in  1795,  upon  the 
Fourth  of  July  of  the  same  year,  Samuel  Adams  laying 
the  corner-stone  and  dedicating  the  pile  forever  to  the 
"cause  of  liberty  and  the  rights  of  man."  Until  quite 
recent  years,  the  summit  of  Beacon  Hill  ran  up  behind 
the  State  House  and  was  about  even  with  the  base  of  the 
dome ;  the  hill  has  since  been  graded  down  about  80  feet 
and  the  material  used  for  filling  in  the  low  lands  of  Back 
Bay.  The  gilded  dome  was  long  visible  far  out  in  the 
harbor  and  was  a  glorified  descendant  of  that  tiny  bea- 
con which,  in  primitive  times,  hung  from  a  pole  upon 
this  spot  and,  like  its  prototype  in  the  little  Boston  town 
of  Old  England,  guided  incoming  mariners  to  port. 
After  having  been  several  times  enlarged,  Boston  State 
House  is  perhaps  Boston's  most  interesting  structure, 
sheltering  numerous  relics  of  its  historic  past. 

Facing  Beacon  Street,  "the  sunny  street  that  holds  the 
sifted  few,"  as  Dr.  Holmes  dubbed  the  aristocratic  thor- 
oughfare, for  many  years  stood  the  Hancock  mansion,  a 
dwelling  which  acquired  such  wide-spread  fame  that  it 
was  made  the  subject  of  a  separate  design  for  china  deco- 

30 


HANCOCK  HOUSE,  BOSTON 
(^Jackson) 


BOSTON  STATE  HOUSE 

Chaise  in  Foreground 

{Rogers) 


UNIVERSITY  HALL,  HARVARD  COLLEGE 

BUILT  1815 

(R.  S.  W.  or  R.  S.  &  W.) 


HARVARD  COLLEGE  BUILDINGS 
(£.  W.  ar  S) 


"THE  INTERESTING  TOWN  OF  BOSTON" 

ration.  Built  in  the  year  1737  by  Thomas  Hancock,  to 
this  home  came  Dorothy  Quincy  as  the  bride  of  his 
nephew,  Governor  John  Hancock,  and  here  for  many 
years  she  reigned  as  first  lady  of  the  State.  The  house 
was  a  substantial  structure,  the  dormer  windows  giving 
a  broad  view  of  the  city  and  of  the  harbor.  A  low 
stone  wall  protected  the  grounds  from  the  street,  and 
guests  passed  through  the  gate  up  the  paved  walk  and 
the  stone  steps  into  the  broad  entrance  hall.  At  the 
right  of  the  hall  was  the  drawing  room  furnished  in 
bird's-eye  maple  covered  with  rich  damask,  and  be- 
yond was  the  spacious  dining  room  in  which  Gov- 
ernor Hancock  gave  his  famous  banquets — one  of 
them  being  a  breakfast  to  the  French  Admiral  d'Es- 
taing  at  the  time  his  ship  was  anchored  in  the  harbor. 
Gossip  whispers  that  the  French  Admiral  brought  along 
so  many  of  his  officers  and  men  to  the  breakfast  that 
Mistress  Dorothy*s  wits  were  hard  pressed  to  find  food 
enough  to  go  around,  and  she  was  obliged  to  send  the 
cooks  out  to  borrow  cakes  of  her  friends  and  to  milk  the 
cows  on  the  Common.  At  the  left  of  the  hall  was  the 
family  drawing  room,  its  walls  covered  with  crimson 
paper,  from  it  an  exit  leading  to  a  formal  garden.  The 
Hancock  House  was  pillaged  by  British  soldiers  at  the 
time  of  Lexington  fight,  when  orders  came  from  England 
to  hang  the  "Proscribed  Patriots,"  John  Hancock  and 
his  friend  Samuel  Adams — orders  which  failed  of  exe- 

31 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

cution,  however,  but  which  inspired  the  decoration  of  a 
set  of  Liverpool  pitchers  (described  in  another  chapter), 
as  well  as  the  following  lines  of  a  British  rhymster : 

As  for  their  King,  John  Hancock, 

And  Adams,  if  they're  taken, 

Their  heads  for  signs  shall  hang  up  high 

Upon  that  Hill  called  Beacon. 

The  Lawrence  mansion,  a  view  of  which  with  the  top 
of  the  spire  of  Park  Street  church  visible  above  its  roof 
is  here  presented,  was  a  near  neighbor  of  the  celebrated 
Amory  mansion  on  Park  Street.  It  was  occupied  by 
the  Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence,  of  the  firm  of  distin- 
guished merchants  "A.  &  A.  Lawrence,"  who  in  1849  was 
minister  of  the  United  States  to  the  Court  of  St.  James. 
The  house  is  now,  on  the  authority  of  an  old  Bostonian, 
No.  8  Park  Street,  the  home  of  the  Union  Club. 

The  Suffolk  County  Court  House,  a  view  of  which  is 
one  of  the  interesting  souvenirs  of  the  Boston  of  the 
Fathers  to  be  found  printed  upon  tableware  in  the  rich 
deep  blues  of  Staffordshire  manufacture,  was  erected  in 
the  year  1810  from  a  design  by  the  architect  Bulfinch.  It 
was  an  interesting  structure,  with  an  octagonal  center 
flanked  by  two  wings.  Until  the  year  1862,  the  build- 
ing served  as  City  Hall  as  well  as  Court  House,  in  that 
year  having  been  demolished  to  make  room  for  a  City 
Hall  of  more  modern  construction. 

Among  the  church  edifices  of  early  Boston  pictured 

32 


"THE  INTERESTING  TOWN  OF  BOSTON" 

upon  pottery,  one  searches  in  vain  for  the  historic  Old 
South  and  Old  North  which  played  such  active  parts  in 
driving  the  English  from  America,  the  artists  for  some 
reason  having  overlooked  them  in  their  quest  for  Ameri- 
can views.  King's  Chapel,  the  "perfectly  felicitous" 
Park  Street  church,  and  Christ  church  are  also  missing, 
two  church  buildings  only  having  been  reproduced  for 
china  decoration — Saint  Paul's  and  the  New  South  or 
Octagon  Church.  Saint  Paul's  church,  now  the  Episco- 
pal Cathedral,  is  to-day,  like  its  namesake  in  New  York, 
hemmed  about  with  tall  modern  structures  which  serve 
to  dwarf  its  modest  proportions.  Saint  Paul's  dates 
from  the  year  1 8 19,  it  being  the  fourth  Episcopal  church 
to  be  built  in  Boston.  The  congregation  of  the  old 
church,  wishing  a  new  and  impressive  edifice,  erected 
this  handsome  Grecian-like  temple  of  stone  which  Phil- 
lips Brooks  pronounced  "a  triumph  of  architectural 
beauty  and  of  fitness  for  the  church's  service."  The 
architects  were  Alexander  Parris  and  Solomon  Willard, 
the  last  named  being  also  the  architect  of  the  Bunker  Hill 
Monument  which  is  presented  in  another  chapter.  In 
their  design  they  gave  full  expression  to  the  Revival  of 
Greek  thought  which  at  the  time  was  beginning  to  make 
itself  felt  in  the  architecture  of  the  country,  Willard  him- 
self carving  the  Ionic  capitals.  The  original  plan  called 
for  a  bas-relief  in  the  pediment  somewhat  after  the  idea 
of  the  pediment  sculptures  of  the  Parthenon,  represent- 

33 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

ing  Paul  preaching  at  Athens ;  but  the  funds  proved  in- 
sufficient, and  the  temporary  stone  was  destined  to  be- 
come a  permanent  fixture.  Underneath  the  church  were 
several  tombs,  one  of  which  being  for  a  time  the  resting 
place  of  the  body  of  General  Warren  who  fell  at  Bunker 
Hill. 

The  series  of  old  china  illustrations  now  conducts  the 
historian  of  early  Boston  to  Church  Green  in  Summer 
Street,  a  plot  of  ground  in  the  south  end  of  the  city,  the 
original  petition  for  a  grant  of  which  for  the  purpose  of 
erecting  a  church  thereon  declaring,  that  it  was  "by  its 
situation  and  name  no  doubt  intended  by  our  forefathers 
for  that  purpose."  The  original  edifice  was  erected  in 
171 7,  Mr.  Wadsworth  of  the  Old  South  and  Dr.  Cotton 
Mather  of  the  Old  North  preaching  the  dedicatory  ser- 
mons. The  church  was  called  the  New  South  Meeting 
House  to  distinguish  it  from  the  Old  South,  and  was 
considered  the  handsomest  edifice  in  Boston.  The 
representation  here  given  is  of  the  structure  rebuilt  in 
i8i4,.its  octagonal  form  a  marked  departure  from  the 
customary  at  that  period,  whence  it  received  its  popular 
name,  "Octagon  Church,"  printed  upon  the  back  of  the 
pieces  of  pottery  which  illustrate  it.  The  design  was 
one  of  Bulfinch's  and  the  material  was  granite,  a  tall 
slender  spire  and  a  portico  supported  by  Doric  columns 
being  characteristic  features.  At  the  time  the  Octagon 
Church  was  built  an  uninterrupted  view  of  the  harbor 

34 


OCTAGON  CHURCH,  OR  NEW  SOUTH  CHURCH, 
BOSTON 
(Ridgway) 


BOSTON  HOSPITAL 

(Massachusetts  General  Hospital) 

{Ralph  Stevenson) 


INSANE  HOSPITAL,  BOSTON 
{Ridgway) 


MITCHELL  AND  FREEMAN'S  CHINA  AND  GLASS 

WAREHOUSE— CHATHAM  ST.,  BOSTON 

{Wm.  Adams) 


"THE  INTERESTING  TOWN  OF  BOSTON" 

might  have  been  had  from  its  door,  but  sixty  years  later 
the  city  had  reached  such  proportions  that  the  edifice 
was  demolished  and  its  site  occupied  by  business  blocks. 
A  curious  style  of  carriage,  with  postilion  in  attendance, 
is  an  interesting  detail  of  the  composition,  while  in  the 
background  appear  the  homes  of  two  of  Boston's 
Fathers,  Nathaniel  Goddard  and  James  H.  Foster. 

A  view  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital  was 
naturally  selected  by  the  English  artists  in  search  of 
decoration  for  their  pottery,  for  it  was  one  of  Boston's 
most  imposing  foundations,  its  architect  being  the 
famous  Charles  Bulfinch.  The  Hospital  building  was 
erected  in  the  year  1821,  was  168  feet  long  and  54  feet 
wide,  built  of  granite  and  adorned  with  an  Ionic  col- 
umned portico;  the  large  wings  were  added  in  1846.  It 
is  on  record  that  within  these  walls  ether  was  first  used 
in  a  surgical  operation  of  magnitude.  The  foundation 
was  the  recipient  of  large  endowments,  among  them  the 
notable  bequest  of  John  McLean,  which  made  possible 
the  purchase  of  other  buildings  for  the  use  of  insane  pa- 
tients, one  of  these  buildings,  known  as  the  McLean 
Hospital,  being  the  subject  of  a  separate  illustration. 

The  Insane  Hospital  was  originally  the  home  of  Jos- 
eph Barrell,  a  wealthy  merchant,  and  was  also  designed 
by  Bulfinch.  The  estate,  which  was  noted  for  its  beauti- 
ful gardens,  was  purchased  in  18 18  for  the  Massachu- 
setts General  Hospital  Corporation,  at  which  time  the 

35 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

»vings  were  added  and  other  changes  made  in  order  to 
fit  it  for  a  home  for  the  insane. 

Of  especial  interest  to  the  collector  of  Staffordshire 
pottery  is  the  specimen  entitled,  Mitchell  &  Freeman's 
China  and  Glass  Warehouse,  Chatham  St.,  Boston, 
Massachusetts.  Here  is  pictured  a  building  which  stood 
from  1828-32,  a  commodious  warehouse  of  the  early  type 
situated  not  far  from  the  wharf.  Within  its  walls  no 
doubt  some  of  the  historic  blue  pottery  was  received  and 
stored  upon  its  arrival  from  England,  to  be  distributed 
later  on  among  the  homes  of  our  New  England  ances- 
tors. At  the  curb  may  be  observed  several  boxes  or 
bales,  and  workmen  about  to  carry  them  into  the  build- 
ing, and  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  stands  an- 
other large  block  of  warehouses.  Looking  down  the 
street  in  the  direction  of  the  harbor,  one  may  see  evi- 
dences of  the  extensive  foreign  and  coast  trade  in  which 
Boston  for  many  years  took  the  lead  over  other  Ameri- 
can cities.  The  tall  masts  and  spars  of  brigs  and 
schooners,  the  view  dating  from  a  period  before  steam- 
boats were  in  common  use,  bespeak  one  of  the  sources  of 
the  city's  pride  a  century  and  less  ago — its  waterfront 
stretching  from  north  to  south,  indented  and  built  up 
with  spacious  docks  and  numerous  wharves  than  which 
no  port  on  the  Atlantic  could  boast  of  better,  and  flanked 
with  fine  warehouses.  For  many  years  a  wealth  of 
commerce  was  carried  on  between  Boston  and  the  prin- 

36 


'THE  INTERESTING  TOWN  OF  BOSTON" 

cipal  ports  of  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  South  America, 
the  West  Indies  and  the  West  Coast. 

The  city  Almshouse  originally  stood  in  Park  Street 
at  the  corner  of  Beacon,  as  has  already  been  stated. 
This  building  was  burned,  and  in  the  year  1800  the 
"New  Almshouse"  was  erected  at  the  river  bank  near 
the  site  of  the  old  Lowell  depot,  where  it  stood,  as  it  ap- 
pears in  the  illustration,  until  1825,  when  the  ground 
was  needed  for  the  laying  out  of  new  streets.  The 
structure  was  quite  ornate,  being  fashioned  of  brick, 
270  feet  long,  with  commodious  wings,  arched  windows 
and  an  ornamental  pediment;  on  either  gable  stood  a 
carved  figure  of  ancient  origin. 

In  the  picture  of  the  Athenaeum  building  one  looks 
upon  the  meeting  place  of  an  association  of  Boston 
Fathers  of  literary  taste,  who  about  the  year  18 10  estab- 
lished a  small  library  and  reading  room.  In  twelve 
years  the  library  had  grown  to  ten  thousand  volumes, 
and  the  association  removed  to  the  larger  quarters  of 
this  house.  The  collection  of  books  made  by  the  Ath- 
enaeum society  was  the  nucleus  of  the  magnificent  Bos- 
ton Public  Library  of  to-day,  one  of  the  most  notable 
institutions  of  which  the  United  States  can  boast.  In 
the  present  Athenaeum  building,  is  preserved  a  plate  like 
the  one  here  shown,  accompanied  with  the  following 
explanatory  note :  "This  building  stood  in  Pearl  Street 
and  one  half  was  given  by  Mr.  James  Perkins,  the  other 

37 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

half  bought  of  Mr.  Cochran  in  1822,  and  the  whole 
occupied  by  the  Athenaeum  until  1849." 

Did  the  Boston  Fathers  of  the  struggling,  stormy  years 
of  Republic-building  find  time  to  yield  to  the  allurements 
of  the  beautiful  seashores  which  lay  so  near  their  door  ? 
That  they  did  so  is  proven  by  two  views  of  the  still  popu- 
lar resort  of  Nahant  with  which  at  least  two  Stafford- 
shire potters  decorated  sets  of  blue  tableware^  In  the 
view  here  reproduced,  the  famous  inn  at  Nahant  occu- 
pies the  center  of  the  sketch,  with  the  rugged  rocks  in 
the  foreground  presenting  much  the  same  appearance 
that  they  do  at  the  present  day.  The  inn  was  built  of 
stone,  surrounded  with  wooden  verandas  and  had  100 
rooms;  it  was  the  first  hotel  to  be  erected  at  that  point. 
Shooting  and  fishing  and  dining  upon  sea  foods  were,  a 
century  ago,  the  same  as  to-day,  the  attractions  of  Na- 
hant, the  well-to-do  inhabitants  of  Boston  driving  out 
in  their  stylish  turnouts,  one  of  which,  a  cabriolet  with 
horses  tandem,  is  presented  in  the  picture;  poorer  folk 
patronized  the  little  steamer  called  the  Eagle,  which 
may  be  discerned  in  the  distance,  and  which  once  a  day 
plied  to  and  fro  between  the  city  and  Nahant. 

In  the  strange,  wilderness  country  of  America,  the 
sight  of  the  imposing  Halls  of  Harvard  College  must 
have  aroused  in  the  minds  of  the  foreign  artists  an  in- 
terest second  only  to  that  inspired  by  the  natural  beau- 
ties of  the  Niagara  cataract.     And  too,  the  sight  must 

38 


BOSTON  ATHEN^UM 
{Ridgway) 


NAHANT  HOTEL,  BOSTON 
iStubbs) 


"THE  INTERESTING  TOWN  OF  BOSTON" 

have  bespoken  to  them  the  quality  of  those  pioneer  set- 
tlers who,  before  every  other  consideration,  planned  so 
well  for  the  instruction  of  youth.  Nearly  a  dozen  dif- 
ferent views  of  Harvard  were  secured  and  reproduced 
in  various  colors,  some  sketches  presenting  the  entire 
campus  surrounded  with  its  famous  Halls,  others  one 
Hall  alone. 

The  first  settlers  of  New  England,  at  a  time  before 
adequate  provision  had  been  made  for  food,  shelter  or 
civil  government,  recognized  the  importance  of  higher 
education  and  began  at  once  the  founding  of  a  Uni- 
versity. In  1636,  the  Governor  of  the  Colony  pledged 
£400  for  the  undertaking;  the  following  year,  the  site 
was  chosen  at  Newtown,  the  name  of  the  suburb  soon 
afterwards  being  changed  to  Cambridge,  not  only  to  tell 
whence  the  settlers  came,  but,  as  has  been  aptly  said, 
in  order  to  indicate  *'the  high  destiny  to  which  they  in- 
tended the  institution  should  aspire."  In  1638,  John 
Harvard  with  his  gift  of  about  £800,  together  with  his 
library  of  320  volumes,  toward  the  endowment  of  the 
college,  made  the  project  a  certainty — the  foundation,  in 
gratitude,  receiving  his  name.  The  avowed  object  of 
Harvard  was  the  training  of  young  men  for  the  minis- 
try, one  of  the  first  rules  for  students  enjoining  that 
they  "lay  Christ  in  the  bottom  as  the  only  foundation  of 
all  sound  knowledge  and  learning" — a  rule  in  perfect 
accord  with  the  principles  which  led  the  Puritans  to 

39 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

America.  Next  to  religious  training  was  placed  the 
classical,  for  those  days  marked  the  beginning  of  the 
period  in  this  country,  now  almost  disappeared,  in  which 
a  person  without  a  classical  training  "might  be  ashamed 
to  count  himself  a  scholar."  In  1642  and  succeeding 
years,  the  following  conditions  for  admission  to  Har- 
vard were  in  force:  "Whoever  shall  be  able  to  read 
Cicero  or  any  other  such  like  classical  authors  at  sight 
and  make  and  speak  true  Latin  in  verse  and  prose,  suo 
ut  aiunt  Marte,  and  decline  perfectly  the  paradigms  of 
nouns  and  verbs  in  the  Greek  tongue :  Let  him  then  and 
not  before  be  capable  of  admission  into  the  college."  It 
is  not  to  be  wondered,  therefore,  that  as  early  as  1719, 
a  Londoner  making  the  grand  tour  of  America  recorded 
in  a  book  of  his  impressions  of  the  country  the  follow- 
ing lines  concerning  Boston:  "It  appears  that  Hu- 
manity and  the  Knowledge  of  Letters  flourish  more 
here  than  in  all  the  other  English  Plantations  put  to- 
gether; for  in  the  City  of  New  York  there  is  but  one 
Bookseller's  Shop,  and  in  the  Plantations  of  Virginia, 
Maryland,  Carolina,  Barbadoes,  and  the  Islands,  none 
at  all." 

At  the  present  time,  after  the  lapse  of  over  three  cen- 
turies, it  is  interesting  to  read  the  regulations  govern- 
ing the  conduct  of  freshmen  toward  the  members  of 
that  first  college  community  in  America.  A  freshman 
was  not  allowed  to  wear  his  hat  in  the  college  yard,  "un- 

40 


1 


"THE  INTERESTING  TOWN  OF  BOSTON" 

less  it  rains,  hails  or  snows,  provided  he  be  on  foot  and 
have  not  both  hands  full" ;  he  must  not  have  it  on  in  a 
senior's  chamber,  or  in  his  own,  if  a  senior  be  there ;  he 
must  go  on  errands  for  seniors,  graduates  or  under 
graduates.  All  students  were  admonished  to  honor 
their  parents,  the  magistrates,  tutors,  elders,  by  being 
silent  in  their  presence  except  when  called  upon  to  speak ; 
to  salute  them  with  a  bow  and  stand  uncovered.  They 
were  also  forbidden  to  speak  upon  the  college  grounds 
in  any  language  but  Latin,  and  must  not,  until  invested 
with  the  first  degree,  be  addressed  by  the  surname.  Im- 
agination fails  to  picture  any  marked  display  of  ex- 
uberance of  spirits  under  the  restraint  of  the  Latin 
tongue ! 

Flogging  was  an  authorized  mode  of  punishment  in 
earliest  times,  the  president  in  the  beginning  personally 
attending  to  it;  later  on,  it  was  administered  by  the 
prison-keeper  at  Cambridge  in  the  college  library,  in  the 
presence  of  all  who  cared  to  be  present.  Prayer  was 
offered  by  the  president,  after  which  the  prison-keeper 
"attended  to  the  performance  of  his  part  of  the  work;" 
the  "solemn  exercise"  then  closed  with  prayer,  after 
which  the  chastised  was  required  to  sit  alone  uncovered 
at  meals  as  long  as  the  president  and  fellows  should 
order.  In  the  years  succeeding,  plum  cake,  dancing, 
swearing,  punch,  flip,  lying,  stealing,  playing  at  sleeping 
at  public  worship  or  prayers,  and  similar  irregularities 

41 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

crept  in  and  caused  such  trouble  that  a  committee  re- 
ported the  college  "in  a  weak  and  declining  state;" 
whereupon  a  more  rigid  set  of  rules  came  in  force,  in 
keeping  with  the  changing  conditions  of  society. 

Harvard  was  from  the  first  of  its  inception  so  gener- 
ously sustained  with  gifts  and  endowments  that  at  the 
time  the  drawings  for  pottery  decoration  were  executed 
the  College  boasted  an  imposing  array  of  Halls,  some 
of  them  the  gifts  of  or  memorials  to  individuals — Har- 
vard, University,  Hollis,  Holworthy,  Stoughton,  etc. — 
in  striking  contrast  to  the  lone  building  which,  until 
the  year  1857,  was  the  home  of  Columbia  in  New  York. 
An  interesting  view  of  old  University  Hall  is  in  the 
author's  collection — a  six-inch  plate  printed  in  deep  rich 
blue  and  framed  in  the  acorn  and  oak  leaf  border  of  the 
Stevenson  potteries.  The  mark  upon  the  back  of  the 
plate,  within  a  flowered  scroll,  is  incorrectly  printed, 
"Scudder's  Museum."  {See  Frontispiece  to  this  chap- 
ter.) 


42 


FORT  HAMILTON,  NEW  YORK 
{Godwin) 


RUINS  OF  MERCHANTS '  EXCHANGE 
( Unknown  Maker) 


CHAPTER  III 

OLD   NEW   YORK 

AS  one  makes  his  way  at  the  present  time  from  the 
Battery  through  the  rambling,  canyon-like  and 
crowded  streets  of  lower  New  York,  his  mind  filled  with 
visions  of  the  city  of  the  Past,  he  searches  almost  in 
vain  for  a  sight  of  its  most  ancient  landmarks.  Where, 
in  the  confusion  of  sight  and  sound,  was  located  the  in- 
closure  within  which  stood  the  "mighty  and  impregnable 
fort,"  sheltering  under  its  protecting  walls  the  neat 
brick-fronted  and  tiled-roofed  homes,  set  in  luxuriant 
cabbage  gardens,  of  the  Dutch  settlers  of  New  Amster- 
dam ?  Where  were  their  "bouweries,"  or  farms,  "slop- 
ing down  to  the  river,"  which  left  the  old  Dutch  name 
an  inheritance  to  the  Present  ?  Where  was  the  Bowling 
Green,  and  where  stood  Peter  Stuyvesant's  wall,  with 
its  gate  through  which  the  cows  of  the  burghers  went 
daily  to  pasture  upon  the  Commons, — and,  where  was 
the  famous  Commons?  Strolling  up  Broadway,  one 
looks  about  for  the  more  pretentious  structures — 
churches,  taverns,  theaters  and  municipal  buildings — 
erected  by  the  English  occupants  under  whom  the  city 

43 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

became  New  York;  and  his  search  is  rewarded  by  a 
glimpse  now  and  then  of  an  historic  structure  hidden 
away  in  a  corner  of  the  valley-Hke  thoroughfares  or 
crouching  modestly  in  the  shadow  of  some  towering 
modern  pile. 

Next  to  Boston,  New  York  was  the  most  important 
city  of  early  America,  and  the  English  artists  naturally 
were  at  pains  to  secure  sketches  of  its  most  imposing 
structures,  views  of  its  streets,  its  harbor,  and  of  the 
life  of  its  people.  A  study  of  these  prints  as  reproduced 
upon  pottery  reveals  to  us,  therefore,  a  very  compre- 
hensive idea  of  the  topography  and  the  customs  of  the 
old  city. 

The  harbor  itself  as  one  views  its  shores  to-day  from 
Battery  Point  is  little  changed  since  the  time,  over 
three  centuries  ago,  when  Hendrick  Hudson  turned  the 
prow  of  the  Half  Moon  into  its  unknown  waters,  little 
doubting  that  it  was  the  much-looked-for  passage  to 
China;  or  when,  about  one  hundred  years  ago,  the 
sketches  of  the  spot  upon  which,  the  Dutch  navigator 
said,  "the  eye  might  revel  forever  in  ever-new  and  never- 
ending  beauties"  were  printed  upon  the  blue  platters 
entitled,  "New  York  from  Brooklyn  Heights"  and 
"New  York  from  Weehawk" — the  platters  which  to-day 
bring  the  almost  fabulous  prices.  Nowhere  can  there 
be  found  a  more  interesting  commentary  upon  the 
growth  of  the  city  during  the  past  century  than  is  pre- 

44 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

sented  by  the  first  two  illustrations,  one  a  view  from 
Brooklyn  and  the  other  from  the  shores  of  New  Jersey. 
In  place  of  the  massed  group  of  towers  whose  outlines 
call  forcibly  to  mind  the  silhouettes  of  the  towered  cities 
of  mediaeval  Italy,  together  with  the  vast  and  varied 
shipping  of  the  world,  which  at  the  present  time  meets 
the  gaze  of  one  approaching  New  York  from  the  sea, 
here  may  be  seen  a  collection  of  low  buildings  loosely 
filling  the  point  of  Manhattan  Island,  with  about  a  dozen 
church  spires  rising  from  the  level  of  the  roofs.  Sev- 
eral varieties  of  vessels,  all  sailing  craft,  are  upon  the 
waters  of  the  bay ;  a  windmill,  no  doubt  a  relic  of  Dutch 
times,  appears  in  the  view  from  Brooklyn  Heights; 
while,  looking  from  the  Jersey  shore,  the  distant  Nar- 
rows may  be  discerned,  the  rolling  shores  of  Long  Is- 
land, and,  nearer  still,  a  fair-sized  island  intended  per- 
haps for  Staten  Island.  In  the  left  foreground  of  the 
view  from  "Weehawk,"  as  the  name  is  printed  upon  the 
back  of  the  platter,  a  Dutch  homestead  is  pictured,  with 
sloping-roofed  farm  buildings  snugly  nestled  within  the 
shelter  of  a  grove  of  tall  pine  trees,  a  circular  driveway 
bordered  with  a  neat  fence  leading  to  them  through  the 
grounds.  We  are  indebted  for  these  interesting  views 
of  old  New  York  to  W.  G.  Wall,  Esq.,  the  Irish  artist, 
who  came  to  the  United  States  in  the  year  1818,  set  up 
his  easel  in  these  sightly  places,  painted  what  he  saw 
and  sent  his  sketches  to  the  Stevenson  potteries  in  Co- 

45 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

bridge,  Staffordshire,  for  reproduction.  The  same 
border  of  roses  and  scrolls  encircles  the  two  views,  but 
the  blue  in  which  they  are  printed  is  less  intense  and 
more  transparent  than  the  blue  of  the  Enoch  Wood  pot- 
teries. At  the  time  of  his  visit  to  New  York,  Wall  also 
executed  views  of  Fort  Gansevoort,  Columbia  College 
and  City  Hall;  the  "Troy  from  Mt.  Ida,"  which  is  pre- 
sented in  a  previous  chapter,  as  well  as  the  imaginative 
"Temple  of  Fame"  in  honor  of  Commodore  Perry,  re- 
produced in  a  later  chapter,  being  likewise  from  his 
hand. 

Bordering  upon  the  harbor  at  the  foot  of  the  settle- 
ment which  comprised  New  York  in  Colonial  times  was 
an  open  piece  of  ground  known  as  The  Battery,  two  ex- 
cellent views  of  which  are  presented.  The  Battery,  as 
its  military  name  suggests,  was  originally  the  outworks 
to  Fort  Manhattan,  known  later  under  Dutch  rule  as 
Fort  Amsterdam  (the  English  destroying  it  in  1789), 
which  Peter  Stuyvesant  erected  to  protect  the  seaboard 
at  the  point  of  the  island — formidable  mud  batteries 
solidly  faced,  "after  the  manner  of  Dutch  ovens  common 
in  his  day,  with  clam  shells."  As  time  went  on,  the  bul- 
warks became  overrun  with  a  carpet  of  grass  and  the 
embankment  shaded  with  spreading  trees.  Here  the  old 
burghers  in  times  of  peace  would  repair  of  an  afternoon 
to  smoke  their  pipes  under  the  branches,  while  for  the 
young  men  and  maidens  the  embankment  became  a  favo- 

46 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

rite  haunt  for  moonlight  strolls ;  and  so,  from  a  place  of 
war-like  defense,  the  Battery  Walk  became  renowned 
as  a  rendezvous  for  the  delights  of  peace — the  fashion- 
able promenade,  or  "Esplanade,"  whereon  of  a  Sunday 
afternoon  the  Dutch  housewives  and  the  English 
matrons  were  wont  to  walk  up  and  down  in  the  shade  of 
the  trees,  enjoy  the  Seabreeze  and  flaunt  their  bravest 
finery  for  all  their  world  to  admire.  In  the  illustrations, 
several  of  the  old-time  ladies  and  gentlemen  may  be  seen 
strolling  along  the  paths,  sitting  upon  the  benches  or 
stopping  to  chat  with  their  neighbors,  the  ladies  in  large 
poke  bonnets,  pointed  shawls  and  narrow,  high-waisted 
skirts,  with  tiny  sun-shades  in  their  hands;  while  their 
escorts  appear  every  whit  as  fine  as  they,  arrayed  in  long 
full-skirted  coats,  broad  brimmed  hats  and  white 
trousers,  sporting  slender  walking  sticks — a  valuable 
record  of  the  topography,  the  customs  and  the  fashions 
of  Colonial  New  York.  Plying  the  waters  of  the  harbor 
many  pleasure  boats  may  be  seen,  in  the  distance  Gov- 
ernor's Island  is  faintly  outlined,  and,  nearer  by,  is  Fort 
Clinton,  connected  with  the  mainland  by  a  foot-bridge. 
The  strollers  upon  the  Esplanade  were  accustomed  to  re- 
pair to  the  nearby  ornamental  structure  built  around  the 
historic  flagstaflf,  where  luncheon  and  music  were  to  be 
found,  the  view  of  the  Flagstaff  Pavilion  which  is  here 
given  being,  it  has  been  said,  the  only  existing  record  of 
that  popular  resort  which  until  the  time  Fort  Clinton  was 

47 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

turned  into  Castle  Garden  was  the  sole  amusement  place 
thereabout. 

Castle  Garden,  in  recent  years  the  landing  place  of 
immigrants  and  at  the  present  time  a  municipal  Aqua- 
rium, was  a  favorite  subject  for  china  decoration,  a 
number  of  Staffordshire  potters  making  use  of  it. 
Originally  as  Castle  Clinton  erected  in  1807  upon  an  out- 
lying rock,  the  structure  was  a  fort  for  the  defense  of 
the  English  town  and  was  reached  from  the  Battery, 
as  the  illustrations  show,  by  a  bridge  three  hundred 
yards  long — a  space  filled  in  later  on  and  made  a  por- 
tion of  Battery  Walk.  In  the  year  1824,  the  building 
was  leased  to  private  individuals  and  transformed  into 
an  in-door  garden,  with  its  name  changed  to  Castle 
Garden.  Its  floor  was  elaborately  laid  out  as  a  garden, 
with  pieces  of  statuary  to  ornament  its  walks,  and  a 
stage  was  erected  at  the  north  end,  where  concerts  were 
given  at  intervals,  refreshments  being  meanwhile  sold 
to  the  audience.  Six  thousand  people  easily  found  room 
for  recreation  within  its  walls,  and  upon  various  occa- 
sions as  many  as  ten  thousand  were  in  the  garden  at 
one  time.  Here  was  held  the  famous  Fete  in  honor  of 
General  Lafayette  when  he  was  the  guest  of  the  na- 
tion, a  description  of  which  may  be  found  in  a  subse- 
quent chapter.  A  few  years  later,  the  place  became 
more  distinctly  a  play-house,  and,  later  still,  the  home 
of   Grand  Opera  in  America  where   such  operas  as 

48 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

"Ernani,"  "Norma"  and  "La  Somnambula"  were  sung — 
the  crowning  occasion,  however,  being  the  appearance  in 
four  concerts,  in  the  year  1850,  of  Jenny  Lind,  under  the 
management  of  P.  T.  Barnum.  Castle  Garden's  career 
as  a  theater  ended  in  1855,  when  the  building  was  turned 
into  a  depot  for  immigrants.  At  the  present  time,  the 
elaborate  display  of  marine  life  within  its  walls  makes 
of  the  old  fort  and  theater  a  fascinating  and  valuable 
educational  center. 

Leaving  the  Battery,  one  shortly  finds  himself  in 
Bowling  Green,  the  little  park  which  still  clings  to  the 
name  the  Dutch  gave  it  when  they  appropriated  this 
plot  of  ground  in  the  midst  of  their  settlement  for  their 
favorite  game.  The  small,  fountain  centered  spot,  set 
to-day  like  a  tiny  pool  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff-like  build- 
ings which  surround  it,  was  long  the  center  of  both 
Holland's  New  Amsterdam  and  England's  young  New 
York — the  village  green  where  maypoles  were  erected 
and  fairs  were  held;  where  the  market  place  stood,  the 
parade  ground,  the  shambles;  and  where  was  smoked 
the  Indian  pipe  of  peace.  Upon  this  spot  the  doughty 
Governor  Stuyvesant  surrendered  his  sword  to  the  Eng- 
lish officers;  later  on,  bonfires  were  kindled  in  Bowling 
Green  when  the  hated  Stamp  Act  was  repealed,  the 
grateful  people  erecting  here  an  equestrian  statue  of 
King  George  the  Third — only  to  pull  it  down  as  soon  as 
independence  was  declared.    At  the  same  time,  the 

49 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

angry  populace  tore  away  the  iron  crowns  which  decor- 
ated the  fence  around  the  green,  traces  of  their  work 
of  destruction  still  being  visible  as  the  fence  itself  sur- 
vives to  the  present  time.  The  first  post-office,  whence 
the  mounted  post  for  Boston  set  out,  stood  on  Bowling 
Green,  and  the  Executive  Mansion  after  Washington's 
first  inaugural,  the  building  later  on,  when  the  national 
capital  had  been  removed  to  Washington,  being  used 
as  the  Governor's  House,  before  the  state  capital  was 
removed  to  Albany.  The  fountain  was  placed  in  Bowl- 
ing Green  at  the  time  Croton  water  was  brought  into 
New  York,  the  mansions  of  the  fashionable  folk  of  the 
city  still  lining  its  sides.  In  recent  years  steamship  busi- 
ness took  possession  of  the  place,  and  to-day  history- 
crowded  Bowling  Green  is  known  only  as  the  terminus 
of  the  surface  railway  on  Broadway. 

Here  begins  Broadway,  beloved  of  all  New  Yorkers, 
"the  greatest  street  in  the  world."  At  the  present  time, 
as  the  searcher  for  memorials  of  the  historic  Past  joins 
its  hurrying  throng,  in  imagination  there  comes  to  him, 
amid  the  confusing  sounds  of  tramping  feet  and  of 
strident  street-car  bells,  a  faint  echo  of  "Sweep,  ho! 
Sweep,  ho!  From  the  bottom  to  the  top!  Without  a 
ladder  or  a  rope !  Sweep,  ho !  Sweep,  ho !  Sweep !" — 
the  cry  of  the  chimney  sweeps  familiar  here  but  little 
over  a  century  ago.  In  those  same  days,  thousands  of 
hogs  roamed  Broadway,  the  only  garbage  collectors  the 

50 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

city  knew !  Sidewalks  came  in  1790,  the  first  ones  being 
of  brick  and  set  unevenly.  Benjamin  Franklin  used  to 
say  that  he  could  always  tell  a  New  Yorker  upon  the 
smooth  pavements  of  Philadelphia  by  his  shuffling  gate, 
"like  a  parrot  upon  a  mahogany  table" ;  twenty-five  years 
later,  however,  visitors  to  New  York  remarked  upon  the 
city's  "neat  houses  and  fine  pavements." 

At  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Wall  Street  the 
searcher  pauses,  for  at  this  point  cluster  many  memories 
of  old  New  York,  several  of  which  are  called  to  mind 
by  the  illustrations.  Facing  Wall  Street  near  the  spot 
where  Trinity  Church  now  stands,  in  Dutch  times  there 
opened  upon  Broadway  the  "Land  Poort,"  one  of  the 
gates  to  the  picket-wall  which  Governor  Stuyvesant 
built  across  the  island  above  the  settlement  in  order  to 
shut  out  the  Indians  from  the  north  and  to  protect  his 
people  from  a  dreaded  attack  of  the  English  who  were 
established  in  Massachusetts.  The  wall  stretched  along 
the  course  of  Wall  Street,  which  received  its  name  there- 
from, and  through  the  Land  Poort  the  cattle  of  the 
Dutch  citizens  passed  each  morning,  the  village  herds- 
man going  the  rounds  of  the  streets  blowing  a  horn,  at 
which  the  settlers  turned  their  cattle  out  from  their 
yards,  and  forming  them  into  a  common  herd  and  driv- 
ing them  up  to  the  pasture  called  the  Commons,  or 
Fields;  in  the  evening,  the  herdsman  drove  the  cattle 
back  to  the  gate,  through  which  they  made  their  own 

51 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

way  home.  The  paths  through  the  bushes  which  the 
cattle  established  in  their  daily  rounds  became  in  the 
course  of  time  lined  with  houses — the  origin,  it  is  re- 
corded, of  the  rambling  and  picturesque  turns  and  laby- 
rinths which  distinguish  certain  streets  of  lower  New 
York  to  this  day. 

A  few  steps  from  the  corner  of  Broadway,  facing 
Wall  Street,  the  first  Federal  Building  or  City  Hall 
stood  in  Colonial  times,  from  the  balcony  of  which 
George  Washington  took  oath  as  first  president  of  the 
United  States.  Several  popular  inns  were  within  a 
short  walk  of  this  corner,  one  of  them,  Fraunce's  Tav- 
ern, still  remaining  at  Broad  and  Pearl  streets,  its  rooms 
thronged  with  memories  of  New  York's  early  days. 
The  visitor  mounts  the  low  steps  to  the  Colonial  door, 
thoughts  of  Washington  filling  his  mind,  for  this  inn  was 
his  headquarters  in  Revolutionary  days,  and  in  1783, 
after  peace  had  been  declared,  in  its  assembly  hall  he 
bade  farewell  to  the  officers  of  the  Continental  army. 
One  sounds  the  old-time  knocker  upon  the  door,  when 
lo !  is  it  a  spirit  of  the  Past  who,  clad  in  powdered  wig, 
full-skirted  coat,  knee-breeches  and  buckled  shoes, 
attends?  Some  Colonial  officer,  mayhap,  stepped  out 
from  audience  with  his  chief?  He  politely  leads  the 
visitor  to  the  assembly  hall  above  and  ushers  him  within 
its  door.  The  inscriptions  upon  the  memorial  tablets 
over  the  mantels  first  claim  attention ;  then,  in  fancy,  he 

52 


o 
o 


w 


o 


COLUMBIA  COLLEGE 
(R.  S.  W.) 


'^^^i^rri-' 


PARK  THEATER 
{R.  S.  W.) 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

turns  and  looks  upon  the  long  table  spread,  the  officers 
one  by  one  taking  leave  of  their  beloved  General ;  at  last, 
the  mind's  eye  follows  from  the  window  the  little  group 
as  it  winds  its  way  through  the  streets  to  the  waiting 
vessel  at  the  dock.  ...  A  luncheon  partaken  in  the 
room  below,  in  company  with  the  spirits  of  the  Past  and 
the  pleasure  seekers  of  Today,  concludes  the  visit. 

Above  Wall  Street,  upon  Broadway  between  Thomas 
and  Cedar  streets,  stood  what  was  in  its  day  the  most 
famous  inn  in  America — the  City  Hotel,  erected  in  the 
year  1792.  The  illustration  shows  it  to  have  been  a 
plain  structure,  five  stories  high,  a  veritable  sky-scraper 
of  its  time,  old  chronicles  proudly  stating  that  the  City 
Hotel  was  visible  as  far  away  as  the  shores  of  Brooklyn 
and  New  Jersey.  The 'City  Hotel  contained  78  rooms, 
and,  until  the  Astor  House  was  erected  in  1836,  it  was 
New  York's  best-known  hostelry,  famed  far  and  wide 
not  only  for  the  splendor  of  its  accommodations  and  its 
entertainments  but  also  for  the  importance  of  its  guests. 
During  the  period  of  the  War  of  18 12,  five  hundred 
gentlemen  sat  down  in  its  long  dining  hall  to  a  dinner  in 
honor  of  the  gallant  and  successful  naval  Commodores 
Hull,  Decatur  and  Jones.  On  Saturday  eve,  February 
II,  181 5,  Henry  Carroll,  a  secretary  to  the  American 
envoys,  alighted  before  the  door  of  the  City  Hotel,  bring- 
ing from  Europe  such  joyful  news  that  all  Broadway 
became  quickly  illumined  and  men  with  lighted  candles 

53 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

in  their  hands  marched  up  and  down  the  street — the 
news  of  the  signing  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  that  com- 
pact the  keeping  of  which  for  one  hundred  years  the  con- 
tracting parties  a  few  months  ago  celebrated  with  keen 
satisfaction.  In  the  year  1824,  a  banner  stretched 
above  the  door  of  the  City  Hotel  announced  that 
the  inn  was  the  home  of  General  Lafayette  while 
he  was  the  city's  guest;  some  years  later,  Charles 
Dickens  was  tendered  a  banquet  at  the  City  Ho- 
tel, Washington  Irving  being  master  of  the  brilliant 
toasts.  But  those  history-making  days  were  also  primi- 
tive times,  for  behold  in  the  illustration  the  load  of  wood 
in  the  street  waiting  to  be  sawed  and  stored  away,  New 
York  having  at  that  time  no  coal.  And  upon  the  side- 
walk may  be  noted  one  of  the  many  pumps  which  stood 
at  intervals  along  Broadway — the  chief  source  of  city 
water  until  the  year  1842,  when  Croton  water  was  intro- 
duced. The  spire  of  Old  Trinity,  as  it  appeared  in  1788 
before  the  present  structure  was  erected,  is  visible  in 
the  distance.  The  portraits  of  Washington  and  Lafa- 
yette appear  at  the  top  of  the  design,  with  a  view  of  the 
aqueduct  bridge  of  the  Erie  Canal  at  the  bottom,  this 
piece  of  china  having  probably  been  made  in  honor  of 
the  famous  visit  of  the  "Nation's  Guest." 

Of  the  numerous  church  edifices  whose  spires  may  be 
seen  in  the  view  of  New  York  from  the  Brooklyn  and 
New  Jersey  shores,  three  only  are  pictured  upon  pottery 

54 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

— Saint  Paul's  Chapel,  the  Murray  Street  church  and 
the  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  no  sketch  of  Old  Trinity,  the  mother  church  of  New 
York,  found  its  way  to  England  for  use  as  pottery 
decoration.  Saint  Paul's  Chapel,  the  oldest  of  the 
chapels  of  Trinity  parish  and  second  only  in  historical 
importance  to  the  mother  church,  stands  to-day,  as  the 
illustration  pictures  it,  with  its  back  turned  to  Broadway 
at  the  corner  of  Vesey  Street,  which  was  as  far  uptown 
as  Broadway  extended  when  St.  Paul's  was  built,  all 
traffic  turning  off  there  to  the  Boston  Post  Road,  now 
as  of  old  keeping  guard  over  its  quiet  God's  acre 
(which  when  this  sketch  was  made  sloped  to  the 
river),  and  appearing  each  year  a  little  more  bowed 
and  ancient  in  contrast  with  the  tall  structures  which 
arise  around  it;  for  Saint  Paul's,  whose  corner 
stone  was  laid  in  1756,  is  of  greater  age  than  any 
other  public  building  in  New  York.  As  the  sketch  pic- 
tures, the  architecture  of  Saint  Paul's  is  simple  and  im- 
pressive, an  excellent  example  of  church  design  of  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  ago,  with  its  rectangular  body,  columned 
portal  and  exquisite  spire  which  calls  to  mind  one  of 
Sir  Christopher  Wren's  conceptions.  The  spacious  in- 
terior of  the  Chapel  is  of  interest,  both  for  its  architect- 
ural beauties  and  for  the  hints  it  gives  of  the  taste  and 
ideas  of  splendor  which  belonged  to  the  men  of  the  past. 
At  the  time  New  York  was  the  country's  capital,  Presi- 

55 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

dent  Washington  attended  service  at  Saint  Paul's,  and 
his  square  pew  marked  with  the  Arms  of  the  United 
States  is  still  shown  to  visitors;  upon  the  opposite  side 
of  the  nave,  designated  by  the  Arms  of  New  York 
state,  is  the  pew  of  New  York  State's  first  governor, 
George  Clinton.  An  urn  in  the  portico  contains  the 
body  of  the  young  and  brave  General  Richard  Mont- 
gomery, a  former  parishioner,  who  in  the  first  year  of 
the  Revolution  lost  his  life  before  Quebec.  The  memo- 
rial, an  elaborate  one  of  bronze,  was  authorized  by 
Congress  and  purchased  in  France  by  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, being  brought  over  in  an  American  privateer  which 
was  captured  by  a  British  gunboat,  before  it  could  be 
safely  placed.  The  dwelling  house  at  the  right  of  the 
Chapel,  as  the  sketch  presents  it,  was  the  residence  of 
Major  Walter  Rutherford,  which  later  on  became  a 
store,  and  was  finally  demolished  by  J.  J.  Astor  to  make 
way  for  his  famous  hotel. 

The  edifice  known  as  the  Murray  Street  church, 
erected  in  1812,  stood  on  Murray  Street  facing  Colum- 
bia College,  and,  from  the  circumstance  that  its  pastor. 
Dr.  Mason,  was  a  man  of  extreme  popularity,  it  was  also 
called  Dr.  Mason's  Church,  It  was  built  of  red  sand- 
stone, with  a  steeple  200  feet  high,  and  in  place  of  the 
portico  usually  to  be  found  in  specimens  of  Colonial 
church  architecture,  this  example  presents  a  pilaster- 
decorated  facade.     Not  only  was  Dr.  Mason  a  pulpit 

56 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

orator  of  world-wide  reputation,  he  was  as  well  a 
lecturer  in  Columbia  and  a  man  of  influence  in  the  city's 
activities. 

St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  in  Mott  Street  was  conse- 
crated in  1815,  and  was  the  largest  building  erected  in 
New  York  for  religious  purposes.  Of  so-called  Gothic 
architecture,  it  was  120  feet  long,  80  feet  deep  and  its 
walls  rose  70  feet.  Its  roof  was  of  peculiar  construc- 
tion, rising  sharply  nearly  100  feet.  The  front  of  the 
edifice  was  of  brownstone,  with  niches  for  statues. 

To  City  Hall  Park,  in  Colonial  years  a  spacious  piece 
of  ground  upon  which  stood  the  Bridewell,  the  Alms- 
house and  the  Debtors'  Prison,  the  quest  next  leads 
the  seeker  for  memorials  of  New  York's  early  days, 
the  potter's  art  having  preserved  pictures  of  six 
buildings  erected  upon  the  Commons.  He  is  here 
in  the  very  pasture  ground  of  the  favored  cows  of 
the  Dutch  settlers,  for  this  small  park,  at  the  present 
time  closely  hemmed  in  by  lofty  towers  and  alive  with 
hurrying  throngs  of  humanity,  was  the  Commons,  or 
Fields,  a  long  distance  above  the  Dutch  settlement  and 
far  out  of  town  in  later  English  times.  In  the  year 
1732,  after  Bowling  Green  had  been  fenced  in  and  busi- 
ness and  fashion  had  begun  to  creep  up  Broadway,  the 
citizens  resorted  to  the  Commons  for  their  holiday 
merry-makings — Maypole  dances,  drills,  bonfires  and 
patriotic  gatherings.     Here  also  a  gallows  was  erected. 

57 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

The  "Sons  of  Liberty"  many  times  gathered  in  City 
Hall  Park,  and,  upon  the  spot  where  the  fountain  now 
stands,  General  Washington  and  his  staff  assembled 
upon  July  9,  1776,  to  listen  to  the  reading  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  a  tablet  upon  the  wall  of  the  City 
Hall  preserving  this  memory. 

The  specimen  of  pottery  known  to  collectors  as  the 
Scudder's  Museum  design  is  of  extreme  interest,  for  it 
presents  an  excellent  view  of  the  Colonial  Commons,  to- 
gether with  several  of  the  original  buildings  which  stood 
upon  it.  Upon  the  right  hand  side  of  the  design  may  be 
seen  the  structure  known  in  its  early  days  by  the  names. 
The  New  Gaol,  The  Provost  and  The  Debtors'  Prison. 
The  building  was  erected  in  1757  as  a  suburban  prison 
on  the  Boston  Post  Road,  and  during  the  period  of  the 
Revolution  when  the  English  occupied  New  York  many 
patriots  were  confined  within  its  walls.  Later  on,  when 
punishment  for  debt  was  yet  imprisonment,  the  building 
was  used  as  a  Debtors'  Prison,  continuing  to  serve  in  that 
capacity  until  the  year  1840,  when  an  Ionic-columned 
portico,  together  with  other  improvements,  which  made 
the  building  a  replica  of  the  Temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus, 
were  added  to  it  and  the  structure  became  the  Hall  of 
Records,  remaining  such  until  within  a  few  years  when 
its  walls  were  demolished  to  make  way  for  the  new 
Post  Office.  The  building  at  the  left  of  the  illustration, 
designated  in  large  letters  upon  the  sign  over  the  door  as 

58 


FLAGSTAFF  PAVILION  AT  THE  BATTERY 
(i?.  5.) 


FORT  CLINTON,  LATER,  CASTLE 

GARDEN 

{Wood) 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

American  Museum,  was  erected  and  occupied  first 
as  a  public  Almshouse,  until  the  time  the  city's  poor  were 
transferred  to  the  new  home  built  for  them  at  Bellevue. 
Upon  their  departure,  the  "worn-out  mansion  of  the  poor 
in  pocket"  was  given  over  to  several  learned  societies, 
among  them  being  Scudder's  Museum  and  Dr.  Gris- 
com's  Lecture  Room.  To  this  place  then  flocked  the 
people  to  gaze  in  wonder  upon  the  Scudder  collection  of 
shells  from  far-off  seas,  the  strange  reptiles  confined  in 
bottles  and  to  laugh  over  the  antics  of  the  curious  ani- 
mals from  South  America  and  the  Orient,  which  formed 
the  exhibit.  In  the  year  1842,  P.  T.  Barnum  purchased 
the  Scudder  collection  of  shells,  bottled  reptiles  and 
caged  animals  and  added  to  it  a  so-called  Moral  Lecture 
Room,  in  fact  naught  but  a  theater,  where  talks  and 
plays  were  given — the  modest  building  here  pictured 
thus  being  the  nucleus  of  what  grew  into  fame  as 
"Barnum's  Greatest  Show  on  Earth."  Among  other 
attractions  here  exhibited  was  the  dwarf  known  upon 
the  stage  as  General  Tom  Thumb,  who  made  his  appear- 
ance upon  its  boards  before  starting  out  to  tour  the  coun- 
try and  charm  the  youth  of  a  past  generation  with  his 
tiny  figure. 

The  glory  of  the  old  Commons,  however,  was  the  City 
Hall,  erected  to  take  the  place  of  the  out-grown  building 
in  Wall  Street,  four  distinct  views  of  which  were  sent 
to  England  for  use  upon  pottery.     Completed  in  the 

59 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

year  1812,  the  dignified  structure  deserved  the  praise  of 
General  Lafayette  who,  as  he  looked  upon  it  twelve  years 
later,  inscribed  in  his  note  book,  "the  only  building  in 
New  York  worthy  the  attention  of  an  artist."  The  City 
Hall  is  constructed  of  white  marble,  with  the  exception 
of  the  north  side  which  was  originally  of  stone,  the 
prudent  New  Yorkers  of  the  day  deeming  it  beyond 
imagination  that  the  city  would  grow  beyond  it  and  cause 
its  back  to  be  visible  to  the  observer!  Designed  upon 
pure  classic  lines,  the  City  Hall  presents  an  interesting 
example  of  pretentious  Colonial  architecture,  a  joy  for- 
ever to  the  beholder,  be  he  student  of  the  art  of  build- 
ing or  a  weary  laborer  passing  through  the  park. 
Indeed,  a  popular  vote  of  but  a  decade  ago  placed  the 
old  City  Hall  of  New  York  tenth  in  a  list  of  the  coun- 
try's beautiful  buildings.  It  is  recorded  that  a  recent 
mayor  of  New  York  once  said  that  if  a  person  happened 
to  be  in  City  Hall  Park  and  glanced  to  the  north,  he 
would  be  made  happier  and  better  by  the  sight  of  the 
City  Hall.  As  the  years  have  gone  by.  City  Hall  has 
acquired  the  appearance  of  ancient  European  edifices, 
the  white  marble  having  taken  on  the  same  creamy,  mel- 
low tones  so  much  admired  in  them.  The  beautiful 
circular  stairway  (which  the  designer  of  a  century  ago 
was  warned  could  not  last  a  week!)  rises  from  the  en- 
trance hall  to  the  rooms  above,  a  suite  of  which,  known 
as  the  Governor's  Rooms,  shelters  many  mementos  of 

60 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

the  country's  historic  past — the  chairs  which  served  in 
the  first  inaugural,  Washington's  desk  dated  1789,  tables, 
mirrors,  and  portraits  of  notable  statesmen. 

New  York's  first  Almshouse,  as  has  been  stated,  stood 
upon  the  Commons,  the  building  later  on  being  trans- 
ferred to  the  American  Museum.  The  original  build- 
ing was  erected  in  the  year  1796  from  the  proceeds  of  a 
lottery  issued  by  the  City  Fathers,  a  common  method  in 
Colonial  days  of  raising  funds  for  public  enterprises, 
and  when,  in  1816,  the  Almshouse  was  turned  over  to 
Dr.  Scudder  for  his  collection  of  curiosities,  the  new 
Almshouse  which  is  the  subject  of  the  platter  decoration 
was  erected  on  the  bank  of  the  East  River,  near  Bellevue; 
in  1848,  the  paupers  were  removed  to  their  present 
quarters  on  Blackwell's  Island,  and  the  Almshouse  be- 
came Bellevue  Hospital.  The  structure  presented  was 
325  feet  in  length  and  was  flanked  on  either  side  with 
commodious  wings — a  large  and  imposing  foundation 
for  its  day  and  one  which  naturally  caught  the  eye  of 
the  English  artists  in  their  search  for  representative 
views.  The  same  potter,  by  the  way,  as  the  rose  and 
medallion  border  indicates,  executed  the  design  here 
presented  of  the  City  Hall,  these  two  being  part  of  the 
Ridgway  series  of  American  buildings  designated  as  the 
"Beauties  of  America." 

Framed  in  the  same  artistic  acorn  and  oak  leaf  border 
which   encircles,    among   others,    views    of   the    City 

61 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Hotel,  Saint  Paul's  Chapel  and  Scudder's  Museum 
(a  border  attributed  to  R.  Stevenson  &  Williams 
of  Cobridge,  a  firm  which  produced  some  of  the  best- 
drawn  designs  of  American  subjects),  may  also  be  found 
the  Park  Theater.  This  plain,  plaster-covered,  brick 
structure  fronted  the  Boston  Post  Road,  now  Park 
Row,  which  crossed  the  fields  upon  the  east  side  of  the 
Commons.  It  was  erected  in  the  year  1798,  and  for 
over  fifty  years  it  was  the  most  prominent  playhouse  of 
New  York.  Performances  began  upon  its  stage,  one 
reads,  at  6.30  in  winter  and  an  hour  later  in  summer, 
the  patrons  having  also  the  privilege  of  a  coffee  room 
and  a  "punch  room."  Many  notable  actors  appeared 
in  Park  Theater,  chiefly  in  Shakespearean  roles — Ed- 
mund Kean,  Edwin  Forrest,  Booth,  Wallack,  Fanny 
Kemble,  Tyrone  Power  among  the  number.  The  ballad 
"Home,  Sweet  Home"  was  first  sung  here,  and,  at  the 
age  of  four,  Joe  Jefferson  made  his  initial  appearance 
upon  its  boards.  Italian  opera  was  sung  for  the  first 
time  in  America  in  Park  Theater,  and  there  also  Fanny 
Ellsler  aroused  the  indignation  of  all  the  clergymen 
and  church  going  people  of  New  York  with  her  im- 
ported dances.  The  building  was  twice  burned,  the 
last  time  in  1848.  Just  beyond  the  theater  may  be  seen 
the  homes  of  several  well-known  New  York  families, 
while  in  the  distance  rises  the  spire  of  the  old  Brick 
Church,  the  "meeting  house"  erected  as  an  offshoot  of 

62 


CITY  HOTEL,  NEW  YORK 

With  View  of  Erie  Canal  Bridge  at  Little  Falls,  and 

Portraits  of  Washington  and  Lafayette 

{Stevenson) 


SAINT  PAUL'S  CHAPEL,  NEW  YORK 
{Stevenson) 


CHURCH  IN  MURRAY  STREET,  OPPOSITE 

COLUMBIA  COLLEGE 

{A .  Stevenson) 


ST.  PATRICK'S  CATHEDRAL,  IN  MOTT  ST. 
(Unknown  Maker) 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Wall  Street.  Ad- 
joining the  theater  may  be  noted  an  old  tavern  which 
was  commonly  frequented  by  the  rural  folk  who  came 
to  town  over  the  Boston  Post  Road.  The  fence  which 
is  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  design  enclosed  the  City 
Hall  Park,  its  tall  stone  posts  united  with  iron  railings 
brought  from  England. 

In  contrast  to  the  campus  of  Harvard  College  lined 
with  its  many  Halls,  which  a  study  of  old  Boston  has 
presented,  the  single  and  rather  unpretentious  building 
which  sheltered  Columbia  College  at  the  period  of  our 
research  found  but  two  potters  to  record  its  history — 
A.  Stevenson  and  the  firm  R.  S.  W.  Clews,  who  suc- 
ceeded A.  S.,  also  reproduced  his  design.  Unlike 
the  first  settlers  of  the  Massachusetts  coast,  those 
who  earlier  came  into  the  region  of  Manhattan,  traded 
with  the  Indians  and  made  permanent  homes  for  them- 
selves upon  the  island,  did  not  concern  themselves  with 
projects  for  an  educational  institution — the  city  thus 
early  in  its  career  receiving  the  imprint  of  commercial- 
ism. Not  until  some  time  after  the  Dutch  traders  had 
yielded  to  the  English,  in  the  year  1702,  was  a  proposi- 
tion made  for  the  acquisition  by  Trinity  Church,  for 
college  purposes,  of  a  parcel  of  outlying  land  known  as 
"Queen's  Farm,"  the  proposers  being  actuated  not  so 
much  by  the  need  for  religious  instruction  as  were  the 
founders  of  Harvard,  although  Columbia  is  indebted 

63 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

for  its  initiation  to  a  religious  institution,  but,  as  they 
declared,  believing  that  "New  York  is  the  Center  of 
English  America  &  a  Proper  Place  for  a  Colledge,"  The 
land  was  acquired,  but  a  period  of  forty  years  elapsed 
before  the  Colony  authorized  the  raising  of  funds  by 
means  of  lotteries,  and  not  until  the  year  1754  was  a 
charter  by  King  George  II  of  England  for  "a  Colledge 
and  other  Buildings  and  Improvements,  for  the  use  and 
convenience  of  the  same,  which  shall  be  called  and  known 
by  the  name  of  King's  College,  for  the  Instruction  and 
Education  of  Youth  in  the  Learned  Languages,  and 
Liberal  Arts  and  Sciences."  The  following  year  Trin- 
ity Church  conveyed  to  the  governors  of  the  college,  "for 
&  in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  ten  shillings,"  all  that 
"certain  piece  and  parcell  of  ground  situate,  lying  & 
being  on  the  West  side  of  the  Broadway  in  the  West 
Ward  of  the  City  of  New  York  fronting  easterly  to 
Church  street  between  Barclay  street  and  Murray  street 
four  hundred  and  forty  foot  and  from  thence  running 
westerly  between  and  along  the  said  Barclay  street  and 
Murray  street  to  the  North  river."  The  express  con- 
dition of  the  grant  was  that  the  President  should  be  a 
communicant  of  the  Church  of  England.  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson  was  the  first  president  of  King's  College,  and  in 
fact,  when  in  1754  the  instruction  of  the  first  class  of 
eight  who  had  successfully  passed  the  required  entrance 

64 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

examination  began,  he  was  the  entire  faculty,  meetings 
being  held  in  the  vestry  room  of  the  church. 

Upon  August  23,  1756,  the  corner  stone  of  the  new 
college,  inscribed  in  Latin  phrase,  was  laid,  after  which 
the  company  partook  of  a  "very  elegant  Dinner"  where 
Health  and  Prosperity  to  the  College  were  drunk — all 
being  conducted,  an  old  chronicle  records,  "with  the  ut- 
most Decency  and  Propriety."  The  original  stone  may 
be  seen  to-day  embedded  in  the  mantelpiece  of  the  Trus- 
tees Room  in  the  Library  Building  at  Morningside 
Heights,  removed  there  in  1897. 

In  1760,  the  college  building  was  so  far  advanced  that 
the  officers  and  students  began  to  "Lodge  and  Diet"  in 
it,  and  in  June  the  Commencement  Exercises  were  held 
in  it,  an  "elegant  Latin  speech"  by  the  president  before 
a  "large  and  polite"  audience  being  a  conspicuous  part. 
In  honor  of  King  George  II  the  building  was  surmounted 
with  an  iron  crown.  In  1773,  King's  College  was  de- 
scribed as  being  situated  upon  a  dry  and  gravelly  sod, 
about  150  yards  from  the  bank  of  the  Hudson  River 
and  commanding  a  prospect  of  the  shores  of  New  Jer- 
sey, Long  Island,  Staten  Island,  the  Bay,  Narrows,  etc. 
That  same  year  John  Parke  Curtis,  stepson  of  General 
Washington,  was  a  student  at  King's  College  and  in  a 
letter  to  his  mother  he  gives  the  following  interesting 
survey  of  his  life :     "It  is  now  time  to  give  you  a  short 

65 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

plan  of  my  apartments  and  of  my  way  of  living.  I  have 
a  large  parlour  with  two  studys  or  closets,  each  large 
enough  to  contain  a  bed,  trunk  and  couple  of  chairs,  one 
I  sleep  in  and  the  other  Joe  (presumably  his  servant) 
calls  his,  my  chamber  and  parlour  are  papered,  with  a 
cheap  though  very  pretty  paper,  the  other  is  painted; 
my  furniture  consists  of  six  chairs,  2  tables,  with  a  few 
paultry  Pictures.  I  have  an  excellent  bed,  and  in  short 
everything  very  convenient  and  clever.  I  generally  get 
up  about  six  or  a  little  after,  dress  myself  and  go  to 
Chappel,  by  the  time  that  prayers  are  over,  Joe  has  me 
a  little  breakfast,  to  which  I  sit  down  very  contentedly, 
&  after  eating  heartily,  I  thank  God  and  go  to  my  Studys, 
with  which  I  am  employed  till  twelve,  then  I  take  a 
walk  and  return  about  one,  dine  with  the  Professors 
and  after  Dinner  study  till  about  six  at  which  time  the 
Bell  always  rings  for  Prayers,  they  being  over  College 
is  broak  up  and  then  we  take  what  amusement  we 
please." 

During  the  stirring  political  period  of  the  Revolution, 
King's  College  naturally  played  an  important  role,  its 
alumni  being  leaders  in  the  patriotic  movement  and  of 
signal  service  in  bringing  about  the  independence  of  the 
country;  the  building  itself,  however,  during  the  Eng- 
lish occupation  of  the  city,  was  turned  into  barracks 
and  hospital  wards  for  the  British  soldiers.  It  was  a 
member  of  the  class  of  '65,  the  Hon.  Robert  R.  Living- 

66 


VIEW  OF  THE  COMMONS 

Scudder's,  or  American  Museum:  the  Original  Almshouse 

and  the  Debtor's  Prison 

{Stevenson) 


CITY  HALL,  NEW  YORK 
(.Ridgway) 


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2 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

ston,  who  administered  the  oath  of  office  to,  and  pro- 
claimed, George  Washington  President  of  the  United 
States.  It  was  a  member  of  the  class  of  ^58,  the  Right 
Reverend  Dr.  Provoost,  who  at  the  close  of  the  inaugural 
ceremony  conducted  the  divine  service  in  Saint  Paul's 
Chapel.  John  Jay  belonged  the  class  of  '64,  Daniel  D. 
Tompkins  was  an  alumnus,  as  was  Dr.  Mason  of  the 
Murray  Street  Church.  DeWitt  Clinton  was  the  first 
student  enrolled  under  its  new  name,  the  name  being 
changed  by  Act  of  State  Legislature  in  1784  to  Colum- 
bia College.  From  that  date  to  the  year  18 10,  there 
was  an  average  of  17  graduates  a  year,  in  181 7  the  col- 
lege numbering  135  students.  In  comparison  with  the 
rules  governing  the  students  of  Harvard,  the  following 
Resolution  setting  forth  the  requirements  of  admission 
into  Columbia  in  1810  is  of  interest:  "Resolved,  That 
from  and  after  the  first  Day  of  October,  18 10,  no  stu- 
dent shall  be  admitted  into  the  lowest  Class  of  the  Col- 
lege, unless  he  be  accurately  acquainted  with  the  Gram- 
mar, including  Prosody,  of  both  the  Greek  and  Latin 
Tongues ;  unless  he  be  master  of  Caesar's  Commentaries ; 
of  Virgil's  ^neid ;  of  the  Greek  Testament ;  of  Dalzel's 
Collectanea  Minora;  of  the  first  four  books  of  Xeno- 
phon's  Cyropoedia,  and  the  first  Two  Books  of  Homer's 
Iliad.  He  shall  also  be  able  to  translate  English  into 
Grammatical  Latin ;  and  shall  be  versed  in  the  first  four 
Rules  of  Arithmetic,  the  Rule  of  Three  direct  and  in- 

67 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

verse,  and  decimal  and  vulgar  fractions."  Although 
no  rule,  like  that  at  Harvard,  requiring  students  to  con- 
verse in  Latin  upon  the  campus,  may  be  found  at 
Columbia,  one  of  the  principles  of  discipline  at  this  time 
was,  "During  the  whole  course  of  education  the  youth- 
ful faculties  are  to  be  kept  upon  the  stretch !" 

As  time  went  on,  the  need  for  a  more  adequate  col- 
lege building  became  pressing,  the  old  structure  "pre- 
senting a  spectacle  mortifying  to  its  friends";  and  in 
1817  it  was  decided  to  erect  at  each  extremity  of  the 
old  Hall  "a  block  or  wing  of  about  50  feet  square  facing 
the  colle^  green  and  projecting  beyond  the  front  of  the 
old  building,  so  as  to  be  in  line  with  the  fronts  of  the 
houses  on  the  north  side  of  Park  Place."  Finished  in 
1820,  this  is  the  College  building  which  the  china  plate 
presents,  the  Lombardy  poplars  in  the  foreground  be- 
ing also  of  interest,  from  the  fact  that  they  were  in- 
troduced from  Paris  in  the  year  1 791  by  Andre  Michaux. 
Columbia  College  remained  in  its  original  location  until 
the  year  1857,  when  it  was  removed  to  Madison  Avenue 
and  49th  Street,  and  thence  in  later  years  to  its  present 
site  on  Morningside  Heights. 

In  the  year  1835,  toward  the  close  of  the  period  in 
which  the  English  potters  made  use  of  American  de- 
signs, a  wide-spread  conflagration  devastated  a  large 
portion  of  the  business  section  of  New  York,  laying 
waste  thirteen  acres  of  property  and  causing  a  loss  of 

68 


OLD  NEW  YORK 

seventeen  millions  of  dollars.  The  fire  extended  from 
Coffee  House  Slip  along  South  Street  to  Coenties  Slip, 
thence  to  Broad  Street,  along  William  Street  to  Wall 
Street,  burning  down  the  entire  south  side  of  Wall  Street 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  buildings,  to  the  East  River. 
The  Merchants'  Exchange  in  Wall  Street,  on  the  site 
of  the  present  Custom  House,  considered  next  to  the 
City  Hall  the  handsomest  building  in  the  United  States, 
was  the  last  to  yield  to  the  flames.  The  disaster  must 
have  appealed  to  the  artistic  sense  of  some  foreign  ar- 
tist, for  three  sketches  printed  in  the  duller  tints  char- 
acteristic of  the  output  of  those  years  are  found  in  com- 
memoration,— "The  Burning  of  Merchants'  Exchange," 
"The  Burning  of  Coenties  Slip"  and  "The  Ruins  of 
Merchants'  Exchange."  The  design  here  presented  is 
of  the  ruins  of  the  Exchange.  The  three-storied  white 
marble  structure  may  be  seen  with  its  ornate  fagade 
alone  intact;  flames  and  smoke  are  still  rising  from  the 
roof;  while  citizens  are  gathered  in  groups  about  the 
ruin,  an  armed  sentinel  pacing  before  it  on  guard.  In 
the  foreground,  a  safe  and  a  package  of  papers  rescued 
from  the  flames  are  deposited,  guarded  by  a  squad  of 
the  National  Guard  in  odd-looking  fur  caps  and  uni- 
forms. The  Post  Office  occupied  a  portion  of  the  base- 
ment at  the  time  of  the  fire,  and  in  the  rotunda  stood 
a  beautiful  marble  statue  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  a  vic- 
tim to  the  falling  walls.    The  border  which  frames  these 

69 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

designs,  whether  wittingly  or  without  intent,  embodies 
both  history  and  prophecy.  Within  the  scrolls  is  the 
record,  "Great  Fire  of  City  of  New  York";  alternate 
spaces  inclose  pictures  of  the  fire  implements  of  the  day 
— engine,  hat  and  trumpet;  while  in  the  remaining 
spaces,  against  a  background  of  city  buildings,  appears 
the  phoenix,  fabled  bird  of  self-reproduction,  rising 
from  the  flames — a  prophetic  symbol  of  the  great  me- 
tropolis which,  out  of  the  ashes  of  the  past,  to-day  rises 
almost  supreme  among  the  cities  of  the  world. 


70 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  PHILADELPHIA   OF   PENN   AND   FRANKLIN 

AS  children  resemble  parents,  so  cities  grow  up  in 
the  likeness  of  their  founders.  The  streets  of 
Boston  still  follow  the  circuitous  paths  worn  by  the 
cows  of  the  city's  Fathers  to  the  pastures  on  the  Com- 
mon, and  the  marked  regard  for  learning  manifested 
by  the  early  establishment  of  Harvard  College  is  con- 
ceded to  the  Boston  of  to-day ;  likewise,  are  New  York's 
boasted  Broadway  and  Wall  Street,  her  extensive  docks 
and  shipping  facilities,  other  than  glorified  Manhattan 
trading-posts  of  the  Dutch  and  the  English  settlers. 
So,  too,  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  enveloped  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  harmony  and  quiet,  bears  to  the  present  day 
in  the  character  of  her  buildings,  her  streets,  and  her 
citizens,  the  impress  of  the  formative  touch  of  her  foun- 
ders— Penn's  peace-loving  English  Quakers,  who 
dreamed  of  a  city  of  Brotherly  Love  in  the  far-off 
"woods  of  Penn ;"  and  Benjamin  Franklin,  whose  sound 
teachings  in  the  form  of  "week-day  sermons"  (which 
will  be  recited  in  a  subsequent  chapter),  and  whose  ex- 
ample of  industry  and  thrift,  were  its  corner  stones. 
Philadelphia  was  later  than  either  Boston  or  New 

71 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

York  in  its  inception,  its  site,  before  the  city  was  defi- 
nitely planned,  having  been  settled  by  successive  com- 
panies of  the  Dutch,  the  Swedes  and  the  English.  In 
the  year  1655,  Peter  Stuyvesant,  with  half  a  dozen  ves- 
sels and  700  men,  came  over  from  New  Amsterdam  to 
subdue  the  Swedes  in  the  Delaware  Valley;  both  Dutch 
and  Swedes,  however,  being  soon  afterward,  through 
the  territorial  rights  of  the  Duke  of  York,  brought  im- 
der  English  rule.  Several  years  later.  King  Charles  II, 
in  lieu  of  claims  which  Admiral  Penn  owned  against  the 
crown,  granted  to  his  son,  William  Penn,  the  tract  of 
land  150  by  3CXD  miles  in  size  which  lies  west  of  the 
Delaware  River,  and  which  Penn  wished  to  call  "Syl- 
vania,"  or  Land  of  Woods,  but  the  king  added  to  it  the 
name  of  Penn,  in  honor  of  his  friend,  the  Admiral. 
Thereupon  William  Penn,  in  order  to  induce  settlers  to 
cross  the  sea,  offered  such  generous  terms  of  payment 
for  land  that  several  vessels  soon  set  sail,  bringing  hun- 
dreds of  colonizers.     This  was  in  the  year  1681. 

Unlike  Boston  and  New  York  and  the  immortal  Topsy, 
however,  Philadelphia  did  not  "just  grow ;"  she  was  care- 
fully planned,  the  site  selected  and  the  new  city  laid  out 
with  deliberate  and  painstaking  forethought.  "Of  all 
the  many  places  I  have  seen  in  the  world,"  wrote  Wil- 
liam Penn  after  his  first  visit  to  his  infant  city,  "I  re- 
member not  one  better  seated;  so  that  it  seems  to  me  to 
have  been  appointed  for  a  town,  whether  we  regard  the 

72 


I 


PHILADELPHIA  OF  PENN  AND  FRANKLIN 

two  rivers,  or  the  conveniency  of  the  coves,  docks, 
springs,  the  loftiness  and  soundness  of  the  land  and  the 
air."  And  Philadelphia  is  delightfully  seated — in  a 
well-chosen,  wooded  plot  of  ground  in  the  spacious  angle 
made  by  the  junction  of  the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill 
rivers,  the  harbor  well  adapted  for  shipping,  the  rivers 
natural  roads  for  trade  with  the  interior  as  well  as  an 
outlet  to  the  sea,  and  the  "soundness"  of  her  climate  a 
perpetual  joy.  The  interesting  view  of  young  Philadel- 
phia which  the  potters  utilized  for  decoration  of  plates 
clearly  defines  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers,  the  point 
of  high  land  between  them  being  filled  with  a  massed 
group  of  square-built  houses,  their  roofs  topped  with  a 
lofty  steeple. 

Philadelphia's  streets,  unlike  those  of  its  northern  co- 
temporaries,  did  not  take  their  course  from  the  wander- 
ings of  favored  cows  nor  from  the  chance  routes  of 
public  post-roads ;  they  run  where  Penn  planned  them  to 
run — straight  and  parallel,  two  miles  in  length  from 
river  to  river,  and  fifty  feet  wide,  with  a  broad  street 
twice  that  width  through  their  midst.  Crossing  these 
streets  at  right  angles  are  others  of  the  same  width,  leav- 
ing in  the  center  an  open  plot  of  ten  acres  for  the  public 
buildings,  the  original  design  giving  old  Philadelphia 
much  the  appearance  of  a  checker  board.  Penn  also  di- 
rected the  naming  of  Philadelphia's  streets,  those  run- 
ning north  and  south  bearing  numbers,  while  those  which 

73 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

run  east  and  west — Chestnut,  Walnut,  Spruce,  Pine, 
Buttonwood,  etc. — ".  .  .  still  reecho  the  names  of  the 
trees  of  the  forest,  as  if  they  fain  would  appease  the 
Dryads  whose  haunts  they  molested,"  and  keep  alive  to 
the  present  time  memories  of  the  city's  wooded  infancy. 
The  original  houses,  a  number  of  which  still  line  the 
oldtime  streets  of  the  pioneer  city,  were  erected  with  the 
same  forethought  that  ordered  the  thoroughfares  them- 
selves, all  of  them  being  built  of  brick,  chosen  for  its 
enduring  quality,  and  after  one  design,  three  stories  high 
with  plain  front  to  the  street  and  a  stoop —  "brave  brick 
houses"  Penn  called  them,  he  himself  bringing  the  Lon- 
don style  of  architecture  into  this  wilderness  of  the 
West.  Lafayette  liked  the  old  houses  of  Philadelphia, 
but  with  his  usual  keenness  of  observation  and  cultiva- 
tion of  taste,  he  remarked  that  their  excessive  regularity 
"might  fatigue  the  eye."  An  interesting  picture  of  the 
interior  of  one  of  the  homes  of  early  Philadelphia  is  af- 
forded in  a  letter  of  Mrs.  Benjamin  Franklin  to  her  hus- 
band in  France  written  in  the  year  1765,  in  which  she  de- 
scribes their  new  home  just  erected  in  Franklin  Court. 
One  learns  from  this  letter  facts  not  only  of  household 
economy,  but  also  of  imported  luxuries  of  this  early  date. 
She  says:  "In  the  room  downstairs  is  the  sideboard, 
which  is  very  handsome  and  plain,  with  two  tables  made 
to  suit  it  and  a  dozen  of  chairs  also.  The  chairs  are 
plain  horsehair,  and  look  as  well  as  Paduasoy,  and  are 

74 


"FAIRE  MOUNT"  PARK,  PHILADELPHIA 
{Siubbs) 


STAUGHTON'S  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA 
(Ridgway) 


THE  BANK  OP  THE  U.  S.,  PHILADELPHIA 
(Stubbs) 


SIDE-WHEEL  STEAMBOAT— PHILADELPHIA 

DAM  AND  WATERWORKS 

{^Unknown  Maker) 


PHILADELPHIA  OF  PENN  AND  FRANKLIN 

admired  by  all.  The  little  south  room  I  have  papered, 
as  the  walls  were  much  soiled.  In  this  room  is  a  carpet 
I  bought  cheap  for  its  goodness,  and  nearly  new.  In 
the  parlour  is  a  Scotch  carpet  which  has  much  fault 
found  with  it.  Your  time-piece  stands  in  one  corner, 
which  is,  as  I  am  told,  all  wrong — ^but  I  say,  we  shall 
have  all  these  as  they  should  be,  when  you  come  home. 
If  you  could  meet  with  a  Turkey  carpet,  I  should  like  it ; 
but  if  not,  I  shall  be  very  easy,  for  as  to  these  things,  I 
have  become  quite  indifferent  at  this  time.  In  the  north 
room,  where  we  sit,  we  have  a  small  Scotch  carpet,  the 
small  bookcase,  brother  John's  picture,  and  one  of  the 
King  and  Queen.  In  the  room  for  our  friends  we  have 
the  Earl  of  Bute  hung  up,  and  a  glass.  May  I  desire 
you  to  remember  drinking  glasses,  and  a  large  tablecloth 
or  two ;  also  a  pair  of  silver  canisters.  The  room  we  call 
yours  has  in  it  a  desk, — the  harmonica  made  like  a  desk 
— z,  large  chest  with  all  the  writings,  the  boxes  of  glasses 
for  the  electricity,  and  all  your  clothes.  The  Blue  Room 
has  the  harmonica  and  the  harpsichord,  the  gilt  sconce,  a 
card  table,  a  set  of  tea  china,  the  worked  chairs  and 
screen,  a  handsome  stand  for  the  tea  kettle,  and  the  orna- 
mental china." 

At  the  time  Philadelphia  was  the  Capital  of  the  nation, 
a  picture  of  the  city's  formal  life  is  afforded  by  the  ac- 
count of  President  Washington's  levees  held  every  two 
weeks  in  his  home.    Upon  entering,  the  visitor  was  pre- 

75 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

sented  to  the  President,  who  was  clad  in  black  velvet,  his 
hair  powdered  and  gathered  behind  in  a  large  silk  bag. 
Yellow  gloves  were  on  his  hands,  and  he  held  a  cocked 
hat  with  a  black  cockade  in  it,  the  edges  adorned  with  a 
black  feather.  He  wore  knee  and  shoe  buckles,  and  a 
long  sword. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Penn's  Treaty  scenes,  which 
will  be  presented  in  a  later  chapter,  the  Philadelphia 
which  the  potters  have  commemorated  is  that  of  Frank- 
lin and  his  time,  and  comprises  views  of  the  Public  Li- 
brary, Pennsylvania  Hospital,  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum, 
United  States  Bank,  Masonic  Temple,  United  States 
Hotel,  one  church  edifice,  scenes  in  Fairmount  Park,  in- 
cluding the  Dam  and  Waterworks,  together  with  occa- 
sional glimpses  of  street  life.  There  are  also  sketches 
made  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city — country  estates,  bridges 
over  streams,  a  primitive  ferry,  etc.  Unlike  the  result 
of  their  search  for  the  notable  buildings  of  Boston  and 
New  York,  the  quest  of  the  old-time  artists  fails  to  ex- 
hibit a  view  of  Philadelphia's  historic  State  House,  or 
Independence  Hall,  within  whose  walls  so  much  of  vital 
importance  to  the  Colonies  and  the  young  Republic  was 
enacted,  and  wherein  is  preserved  the  piece  of  parch- 
ment which  declares  that  the  American  colonies  are  "ab- 
solved from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown."  The  In- 
dependence Bell  which  rang  out  the  first  message  of 

7<5 


I 


PHILADELPHIA  OF  PENN  AND  FRANKLIN 

"Liberty  throughout  all  the  land,  to  all  the  inhabitants 
thereof,"  here  likewise  finds  a  permanent  home. 

Philadelphia  owes  her  Public  Library  to  Benjamin 
Franklin,  the  thousands  of  volumes  which  to-day  fill  the 
shelves  of  the  building  in  Locust  Street  being  the  grad- 
ual outgrowth  of  three  small  cases  of  books  which  were 
assembled  in  Pewter  Platter  Alley  by  Franklin  and  his 
friends  of  the  Junto  Club.  With  characteristic  fore- 
thought and  wisdom,  those  gentlemen  made  a  rule  that 
the  volumes  might  be  read  not  only  by  any  "civil  gentle- 
man" who  cared  to  come  there  to  do  so,  but  also  that 
they  might  be  carried  home  "into  the  bosom  of  private 
families;"  in  this  manner  the  system  of  circulating  li- 
braries had  its  inception.  The  citizens  of  Philadelphia 
contributed  forty-five  pounds  to  purchase  new  volumes 
for  the  library,  the  learned  Board  of  Managers  modestly 
sending  the  money  to  England  without  specifications  as 
to  choice,  and  receiving  in  return  a  good,  though  rather 
heavy,  assortment.  A  more  commodious  apartment  in 
the  State  House  was  then  secured  to  house  the  books, 
and,  after  a  time.  Carpenters*  Hall  was  leased,  with  a 
librarian  in  attendance  twice  a  week.  Here  the  volumes 
remained  during  the  Revolutionary  period,  a  solace  to 
both  the  American  and  English  officers.  After  inde- 
pendence was  achieved,  in  the  year  1789,  the  corner- 
stone of  the  first  real  home  of  the  Philadelphia  Library, 

77 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

the  building  illustrated  upon  the  plate,  was  laid  in  Fifth 

Street,  having  been  engraved  with  the  following  curious 

lines : 

Be  it  remembered 

In  honour  of  the  Philadelphia  youth, 

(Then  chiefly  artificers) 

That  in  MDCCXXXI 

They  cheerfully, 

At  the  instance  of  Benjamin  Franklin 

One  of  their  number, 

Instituted  the  Philadelphia  Library; 

Which  though  small  at  first. 

It  became  highly  valuable  and  extensively  useful ; 

And  which  the  walls  of  this  edifice 

Are  now  destined  to  contain  and  preserve. 

In  a  niche  over  the  doorway,  Franklin  himself  stood 
guard — a  curious  statue,  made  in  Italy  of  finest  marble, 
draped  in  a  Roman  toga.  Together  with  the  books,  the 
statue  was  removed  in  the  year  1880  to  the  present  Li- 
brary Building  in  Locust  Street,  where  it  was  given  a 
place  of  honor  over  the  new  portal,  the  old  corner  stone 
also  being  preserved  and  reset  in  the  new  walls.  A  num- 
ber of  interesting  relics  of  early  Philadelphia  find  a  home 
in  this  building,  among  them  a  bookcase  and  desk  used 
by  William  Penn,  and  his  clock,  still  keeping  time;  a 
clock  once  owned  by  Franklin  is  also  there. 

In  the  year  of  Christ 

MDCCLV, 

George  the  Second  happily  reigning, 

(For  he  sought  the  happiness  of  his  people) 

78 


PHILADELPHIA  WATERWORKS:  THE  PUMPING 

STATION  IN  CITY 

(  Jackson) 


PHILADELPHIA  LIBRARY 
{Ridgway) 


PHILADELPHIA  OF  PENN  AND  FRANKLIN 

Philadelphia  flourishing, 

(For  its  inhabitants  were  public  spirited) 

This  Building, 

By  the  bounty  of  Government 

And  of  many  private  persons, 

Was  piously  founded 

For  the  relief  of  the  sick  and  miserable. 

May  the  God  of  Mercies 

Bless  the  undertaking. 

These  are  the  words  of  Benjamin  Franklin  which  are  en- 
graved in  the  corner-stone  of  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital, 
an  interesting  view  of  which  is  presented  in  the  platter 
illustration.  The  record  oi  the  "bounty  of  government 
and  of  private  persons"  which  made  possible  this  noble 
foundation  is  a  pleasant  one  to  read.  In  the  year  1755, 
the  citizens  of  Philadelphia  in  order  to  found  the  needed 
institution  gave  of  their  wealth,  England  as  well  con- 
tributing funds  for  the  "relief  of  the  sick  and  miser- 
able." From  London  came  also  a  gift  to  the  Hospital, 
for  medical  work,  of  a  human  skeleton,  a  thing  of  such 
novel  interest  that  admission  was  charged  by  the  thrifty 
Friends  to  look  upon  it,  a  handsome  sum  being  thereby 
added  to  the  Hospital  funds.  Benjamin  Franklin  was 
a  member  of  the  first  Board  of  Hospital  Managers,  later 
on,  its  president,  and  to  his  wisdom  and  judgment  are 
due  much  of  the  success  and  prosperity  of  the  institu- 
tion. The  building  itself,  which  when  erected  was  con- 
sidered far  out  of  town,  was  originally,  as  may  be  seen, 

79 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

a  simple  and  substantial  Colonial  structure  set  in  the 
midst  of  spacious  grounds,  shaded  with  spreading  trees. 
One  of  the  trees  is  of  special  interest  as  being  the  out- 
growth of  a  sapling  taken  from  the  famous  Treaty  Elm, 
after  its  fall  in  the  year  1810  upon  the  bank  of  the  Dela- 
ware River.  The  gentleman  in  the  foreground,  with 
severely  bent  back,  is  evidently  about  to  seek  relief  from 
his  infirmity  within  the  institution. 

A  building  of  unusual  beauty  for  the  time  is  the  old 
Philadelphia  Bank,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  as  it 
was  at  first  known,  founded  in  the  early  days  of  inde- 
pendence, when  Philadelphia  was  the  center  of  the  na- 
tional life  of  the  infant  republic.  The  Bank  of  the 
United  States  was  the  first  building  in  the  severe  Quaker 
City  to  be  lavishly  adorned,  a  stately  white  marble  portico 
with  tall  Corinthian  columns  and  pilasters  of  the  same 
order  being  the  principal  features  of  its  front.  This 
bank  was  the  parent  institution  of  the  country,  the  main 
office  from  which  branches  extended  to  other  parts  of  the 
Union.  At  the  time  the  present  sketch  of  it  was  exe- 
cuted, the  bank  was  the  property  of  Stephen  Girard,  a 
wealthy  Philadelphia  citizen,  and  its  name  had  been 
changed  to  the  Girard  Bank.  The  old  houses  by  the  side 
of  the  bank,  the  oddly  shaped  wagon  and  the  pile  of  wood 
upon  the  pavement  are  interesting  details  of  this  illus- 
tration. 

The  taverns  of  old  Philadelphia,  like  those  of  con- 

80 


PHILADELPHIA  OF  PENN  AND  FRANKLIN 

temporary  cities,  reflected  in  their  names  and  signs  some- 
thing of  the  characteristic  quality  of  their  frequenters. 
The  "Crooked  Billet  Inn"  was  a  public  house  which  stood 
on  the  wharf  at  Water  Street,  and  had  the  distinction 
of  being  the  first  house  entered  in  Philadelphia,  in  1723, 
by  the  young  Benjamin  Franklin,  upon  his  arrival  in 
the  city.  The  "Pewter  Platter  Inn,"  with  its  sign  a 
large  pewter  platter,  became  so  famous  that  it  gave  its 
name  to  the  alley  at  the  corner  of  which  it  stood,  obliter- 
ating that  of  "Jones."  The  "Bull's  Head  Tavern,"  with 
its  sign  of  a  bull's  head,  was  so  named  from  the  fact  of  a 
bull  thrusting  his  head  through  a  window,  the  proprietor 
remarking  that  the  fact  and  the  sign  might  draw  trade. 
There  was  the  "Indian  Queen,"  the  "St.  George  and  the 
Dragon,"  the  "Cross  Keys,"  the  "Blue  Lion,"  and,  last 
but  not  least  interesting,  "The  Man  Loaded  with  Mis- 
chief," the  sign  portraying  a  man  carrying  his  wife  upon 
his  back,  an  inn  which  stood  in  Spruce  Street.  Sign- 
painting  was  originally  included  among  the  finer  arts, 
and  it  is  related  of  Benjamin  West  that  he  did  not  dis- 
dain to  put  his  talent  to  this  form  of  work,  a  tavern  sign 
done  by  him  being  considered  of  extreme  merit.  It  rep- 
esented  upon  one  side  in  bright  colors  a  man  sitting  on 
a  bale  holding  up  a  glass  of  liquor  as  if  looking  through 
it;  the  other  side  showed  two  brewer's  porters  carrying 
a  cask  of  beer  slung  with  can  hooks  to  a  pole,  which  was 
the  way  beer  was  then  carried  out. 

81 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

One  famous  old  Philadelphia  inn  is  recorded  in  the 
pottery  records,  the  United  States  Hotel,  the  excellent 
view  of  it  being  framed  in  an  exquisite  border  of  trees 
and  foliage.  This  place  is  memorable  for  the  fashion- 
able "Assemblies"  which  at  one  time  carried  on  their 
festivities  within  its  walls.  Old  chronicles  relate  that 
as  early  as  the  year  1749,  and  continuing  through  the 
years  when  Philadelphia  was  the  nation's  capital,  with 
the  exception  of  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  to  quite 
recent  years,  the  Assemblies  were  a  prominent  feature  of 
the  amusement  season.  Upon  every  Thursday  evening 
throughout  the  winter,  the  fashionable  folk  gathered  at 
the  United  States  Hotel,  arriving  precisely  at  six  o'clock. 
The  ladies  who  came  first  had  places  assigned  to  them  in 
the  first  set  of  the  dance,  later  comers  being  distributed 
throughout  the  other  sets,  the  cotillion,  minuet,  reels  and 
the  newly-introduced  waltz  being  the  forms  of  dancing 
then  in  vogue.  Card  games  were  also  indulged  in  at 
these  Assemblies,  the  two  forms  of  amusement — dancing 
and  card  playing,  being  looked  upon  by  the  Quakers  with 
kindlier  eyes  than  performances  at  the  theater.  Sup- 
per was  of  the  lightest  order,  chiefly  being,  we  read, 
"something  to  drink,"  and  by  twelve  o'clock  the  entire 
company  were  wending  their  way  homeward  through  the 
quiet  streets.  Cards  of  admission  to  these  functions,  as 
well  as  the  fashionable  visiting  cards  of  the  day,  were 
playing  cards,  no  blank  cards  being  brought  to  the  colo- 

82 


I 


PHILADELPHIA  OF  PENN  AND  FRANKLIN 

nies  and  nothing  but  playing  cards  imported  for  sale. 
The  invitation,  or  the  name  and  address,  were  written  or 
printed  upon  the  blank  side  of  the  card,  the  back  pre- 
senting, as  might  chance,  the  effigy  of  the  King  of  Hearts 
or  the  Queen  of  Clubs.  The  United  States  Hotel  wit- 
nessed also  scenes  other  than  those  of  gayety.  Upon  a 
June  morning  of  *75,  a  breathless  messenger  alighted  be- 
fore its  door  bringing  the  startling  news  that  the  first 
shot  of  war  had  been  fired  at  Lexington ;  in  the  year  ^yy. 
Lord  Howe  and  his  English  soldiers  being  quartered 
upon  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  Washington  and  his 
army  at  Valley  Forge,  the  weekly  balls  at  the  United 
States  Hotel  were  a  prominent  feature  of  that  "rollicking 
winter";  and  upon  an  October  morning  of  '8i,  another 
messenger  arrived,  bringing  the  word  that  Yorktown 
and  Cornwallis  had  surrendered. 

A  sketch  of  but  one  of  the  many  houses  of  worship  of 
early  Philadelphia  was  transferred  to  English  pottery, 
that  of  Staughton's  Church.  The  illustration  exhibits  a 
low  built  structure  whose  dome-shaped  roof  and  thickly 
proportioned  columns  set  between  piers,  in  striking  con- 
trast to  the  tall  spires  and  rectangular  proportions  which 
are  the  distinctive  qualities  of  the  early  Boston  and  New 
York  edifices,  call  to  mind  the  Pantheon  at  Rome  and 
present  an  excellent  example  of  the  classic  influence 
which  was  beginning  to  make  itself  evident  in  American 
ecclesiastical  architecture  early  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 

83 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

tury.  Staughton's  church  stood  on  Sampson  Street,  be- 
tween 8th  and  9th  streets,  and  was  erected  in  the  year 
181 1,  for  the  Rev.  WilHam  Staughton,  a  Baptist 
clergyman  of  such  strong  personality  that  the  edifice  for 
many  years  retained  his  name.  The  rotunda  was  cap- 
able of  seating  2500  people. 

Fairmount  Park,  or  Faire  Mount,  as  it  was  originally 
called,  is  a  picturesque  tract  of  land  bordering  the 
Schuylkill  River  above  the  city,  and  has  always  been,  as 
it  is  now,  a  favorite  resort  of  Philadelphia  citizens. 
William  Penn  fancied  the  locality,  and  had  the  intention 
of  building  himself  a  home  there,  writing  in  1701  to  a 
friend,  "My  eye  is  upon  Faire  Mount."  The  plate- 
decorations  of  Fairmount,  one  of  them  framed  in  the 
eagle  and  scroll  border  of  the  potter  Stubbs  and  the 
others  in  the  handsome  wreath  of  mingled  fruit  and 
flowers,  show  a  rolling  expanse  of  country  on  the  edge 
of  the  river,  with  two  of  the  country  homes  of  Philadel- 
phians  situated  upon  the  opposite  shore.  The  Schuyl- 
kill River  at  this  point  became  the  source  of  the  city's 
supply  of  water.  Philadelphia's  first  water  supply  came 
from  the  use  of  pumps,  and  not  until  after  an  epidemic 
of  yellow  fever,  in  1793,  was  the  project  of  the  intro- 
duction of  river  water  seriously  broached,  many  of  the 
citizens  being  reluctant  to  give  up  the  ice-cold  water  from 
their  wells  for  the  tepid  waters  of  the  Schuylkill.  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  the  city's  great  and  versatile  benefactor, 

84 


UNITED  STATES  HOTEL,  PHILADELPHIA 
{Tarns) 


PHILADELPHIA  OF  PENN  AND  FRANKLIN 

early  foresaw  the  need  of  a  fresh  supply  of  water  for 
the  city  and  recommended  the  Wissahickon  Creek,  the 
volume  of  which  was  proved  inadequate.  In  the  year 
1813,  river- water  was  made  available,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  there  were  nearly  3000  dwellings  receiving  the 
water  from  the  Schuylkill  at  Fairmount;  and  when,  in 
181 8,  a  steam  engine  was  set  in  operation  at  the  plant, 
the  number  rapidly  increased. 

After  the  construction  of  the  Dam  and  the  Power 
House  for  pumping  water  into  a  reservoir,  these  were 
the  chief  attractions  of  Fairmount,  making  of  it  a  popu- 
lar resort,  the  "glory  of  Philadelphia,  combining  beauty 
of  scenery,  usefulness  of  purpose  and  magnitude  of  de- 
sign." The  Philadelphia  Dam  and  Waterworks  are  the 
subject  of  two  old  china  decorations,  one  view  with  a 
side-wheel  steamboat  upon  the  water  being  here  given; 
the  other  view,  with  a  stern-wheel  vessel  in  the  fore- 
ground, is  presented  in  the  chapter  upon  Early  Modes 
of  Travel.  In  both  illustrations,  the  dam  across  the 
river,  the  artificial  fall  of  water  and  the  pump-house  may 
be  seen,  the  last  named  being  a  white  stone  structure  in 
the  Doric  style  of  architecture,  the  wings  occupied  by  the 
offices  of  the  company.  The  Waterworks  were  much 
frequented  by  Philadelphians,  who  drove  out  to  spend  a 
Sunday  afternoon,  bringing  the  children  to  play  upon  the 
grassy  slopes,  and  every  stranger  in  the  city  felt  his 
visit  incomplete  without  an  excursion  to  Fairmount  on 

85 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

the  Schuylkill  to  examine  the  far-heralded  plant. 
Lafayette  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  machinery  at 
Fairmount,  which  was  explained  to  him,  remarking  in 
his  polite  French  way  that  he  looked  upon  the  Phila- 
delphia Waterworks  as  a  model  of  the  American  Gov- 
ernment, "in  which  are  found  at  once  simplicity,  economy 
and  power."  The  city  receiving-fountain  of  the  Fair- 
mount  Waterworks  was  situated  in  Center  Square,  and, 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  print,  was  an  ornamental  structure 
of  marble,  its  circular,  dome-shaped  upper  story  giving 
it  the  popular  appellation  of  "pepper-box." 

A  number  of  interesting  views  of  the  suburbs  about 
Philadelphia  served  as  decorations  for  rich  blue  dinner 
sets.  Owing  to  its  mild  and  delightful  climate  and  the 
country-loving  inclinations  of  its  citizens,  suburban  life 
became  more  of  a  feature  of  Philadelphia  than  of  either 
Boston  or  New  York,  and  many  of  the  surrounding  hills 
were  dotted  with  handsome  country  homes.  Glimpses 
of  some  of  these  homes  may  be  had  in  the  background  of 
several  of  the  sketches  which  have  been  reproduced,  and 
one  or  two  separate  estates  form  the  subject  of  an  entire 
decoration, — "Woodlands,"  for  example,  on  the  bank 
of  the  Schuylkill  River,  which  was  noted  for  its  beauti- 
ful gardens.  In  Colonial  times  there  were  few  bridges 
over  the  rivers,  fording  and  ferrying  being  the  usual 
modes  of  crossing.  Pennsylvania,  however,  was  an  ex- 
ception, and  the  bridges  which  were  constructed  over 

86 


PHILADELPHIA  OF  PENN  AND  FRANKLIN 

the  many  streams  in  the  State  became  so  numerous  that 
Pennsylvania  received  the  title  of  "the  state  of  bridges." 
Several  of  these  structures  were  very  elaborate  and  ex- 
pensive and  enjoyed  a  fame  beyond  their  immediate  lo- 
cality. Such  was  the  "Upper  Ferry  Bridge"  over  the 
Schuylkill  River,  a  view  of  which  is  afforded  in  the  beau- 
tiful platter  decoration.  In  this  illustration  may  be  seen 
one  of  the  covered  type  of  bridge  which  has  now  almost 
entirely  disappeared  from  the  country  roads  of  America. 
It  was  erected  in  the  year  1813,  and  was  remarkable  for 
its  single  arch  of  a  span  of  328  feet.  At  the  right  hand 
entrance  to  the  bridge  stands  the  once-famed  Harding 
Tavern,  while  in  the  foreground  may  be  seen  an  old-time 
covered  Pennsylvania  wagon  drawn  by  six  horses — ^both 
bridge  and  wagon  being  valuable  records  of  early 
America. 

Another  country  scene  typical  of  suburban  Philadel- 
phia is  that  entitled,  "Mendenhall  Ferry,"  which  illus- 
trates a  common  mode  of  river-crossing  in  the  early  days 
— a  rope  ferry  over  the  Schuylkill  River  a  short  distance 
above  the  city.  The  country  homes  of  Joseph  Sims  and 
of  Dr.  Philip  Syng  Physick,  the  most  celebrated  surgeon 
of  his  time  and  known  as  "the  father  of  American  sur- 
gery," may  be  seen  upon  the  hillsides  in  the  background, 
while  Mendenhall  Inn,  long  a  favorite  resort  of  Phila- 
delphians,  occupies  the  left  of  the  design. 


87 


CHAPTER  V 

EARLY   BALTIMORE 

LESS  than  a  dozen  views  of  early  Baltimore  are  pre- 
served upon  blue  china.  The  first  one  here  pre- 
sented is  a  harbor  scene  known  to  collectors  as  the  harbor 
of  Baltimore,  but  it  is  of  disputed  authenticity  and  re- 
sembles in  its  minaret-like  spires  some  city  of  the  Orient 
rather  than  a  settlement  of  the  young  American  Repub- 
lic. The  second  harbor  sketch  is  more  probably  taken 
from  the  original  scene.  In  it  two  flagstaff s  rise  from  a 
small  wharf  in  the  foreground,  from  which  banners  float 
— one  of  them  displaying  an  anchor,  and  the  other,  the 
letter  B.  The  water  front  of  the  city  may  be  seen,  with 
sailing  vessels  and  small  steamboats  passing  to  and  fro, 
and  rows  of  low  regular  buildings  lining  the  streets  that 
run  down  to  the  river.  Here  and  there  a  church  spire 
or  a  monument  towers  above  the  roof  line,  those  "spires 
and  grove  of  vessels"  which  Lafayette  remarked  when  he 
visited  Baltimore  in  the  year  1824.  The  French  guest 
considered  Baltimore  one  of  the  handsomest  cities  in  the 
Union,  with  its  streets  so  broad  and  regular,  but  without 
the  monotony  of  the  streets  of  Philadelphia.  He  was 
impressed  with  the  elegance  and  delicacy  of  manners  of 

88 


EARLY  BALTIMORE 

Baltimore's  citizens,  naturally  ascribing  the  fact  to  the 
influence  of  their  French  blood;  likewise,  he  was  im- 
pressed with  the  beautiful  buildings  of  the  city,  many  of 
which  had  been  designed  by  French  architects.  At 
the  time  of  Lafayette's  visit,  Baltimore  numbered  about 
sixty  thousand  inhabitants. 

Baltimore  is  younger  than  the  other  cities  of  the 
United  States  which  have  already  been  considered.  To 
be  sure,  fourteen  years  before  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
landed  on  the  New  England  coast  Captain  John 
Smith  had  sailed  up  the  Patapsco  River  and  looked  upon 
the  site  of  the  future  city  of  Baltimore;  and  fifty-three 
years  later,  Lord  Baltimore,  who  afterwards  gave  his 
name  to  the  settlement,  had  come  into  the  region;  but 
not  until  the  year  1730,  was  the  city  laid  out.  Origi- 
nally, Baltimore  consisted  only  of  a  group  of  plantations 
whose  owners  were  engaged  in  tobacco  raising  for  the 
English  market — the  Horn  of  Plenty  and  the  full  rigged 
vessel  in  Maryland's  Coat  of  Arms  (presented  in  a  later 
chapter)  symbolizing  her  agriculture  and  her  commerce. 
For  many  years  the  taxes  of  Baltimore  were  paid  in  to- 
bacco. 

A  sketch  of  Baltimore  which  was  made  in  the  year 
1752  shows  that  the  city  then  contained  but  twenty-five 
houses,  four  of  them  only  being  of  brick.  In  the  year 
1756,  there  came  to  Baltimore  from  Nova  Scotia  that 
little  band  of  French  exiles  of  whom  the  poet  Longfellow 

89 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

sings,  "Friendless,  homeless  and  hopeless,  they  wandered 
from  city  to  city."  Here  many  of  them  found  a  refuge 
and  settled,  a  number  of  the  old  French  names  lingering 
in  the  present  city.  Of  Colonial  and  early  Republican 
Baltimore,  Staffordshire  pottery  illustrations  present  the 
Court  House,  Exchange,  Battle  Monument,  Hospital, 
Almshouse,  University  of  Maryland  and  Masonic  Hall, 
several  of  them  framed  in  borders  of  unusual  attractive- 
ness. The  Court  House,  which  is  not  standing  at  the 
present  time,  a  view  of  which  could  not  be  procured,  was 
a  large,  square,  dingy  gray-stone  pile  built  above  a  base- 
ment, with  arches  for  openings,  the  structure  resembling, 
an  old  citizen  remarked,  "a  house  perched  upon  a  great 
stool."  In  the  basement  there  stood  during  the  strict 
Colonial  years  a  whipping-post,  stocks  and  pillory — in- 
struments for  the  serving  of  the  sentences  imposed  in  the 
Hall  of  Justice  above. 

The  view  of  the  Baltimore  Exchange  is  very  rare. 
The  Exchange  was  erected  in  the  year  1820,  and 
in  the  old  times  at  a  certain  hour  each  day  the 
merchants  of  Baltimore  were  accustomed  to  meet 
in  its  great  Hall  for  the  dispatch  of  business.  The 
building  excited  much  admiration  in  the  early  days,  be- 
coming famed  as  one  of  the  handsomest  establishments 
of  its  kind  in  the  world.  It  faced  as  the  illustration  pre- 
sents it,  upon  an  open  square,  several  shops  or  ware- 
houses of  old  Baltimore  being  seen  in  its  neighborhood, 

90 


BALTIMORE 
{.Unknown  Maker) 


UNIVERSITY  OP  MARYLAND,  BALTIMORE 
(  Unknown  Maker) 


THE  BALTIMORE  HOSPITAL 
(  Unknown  Maker) 


THE  BALTIMORE  ALMSHOUSE 
( Unknown  Maker) 


EARLY  BALTIMORE 

while  a  coach  and  pair  typical  of  the  period  are  driving 
by.  Indeed,  our  gratitude  goes  out  to  the  English  artists 
not  only  for  the  exact  and  beautiful  reproductions  of  the 
prominent  buildings  of  Colonial  America  which  they 
took  pains  to  secure,  but  as  well  for  the  interesting  and 
significant  details  of  everyday  life  which  they  depicted. 
The  border  of  fruits  and  flowers  around  this  scene  might 
have  been  copied,  so  close  is  the  resemblance,  from  some 
old  Flemish  tapestry  picturing  an  allegorical  figure  of 
Abundance. 

From  the  fact  that  a  large  number  of  columns  adorn 
its  public  squares,  Baltimore  is  known  as  the  "Monu- 
ment City,"  Lafayette  remarking  a  century  ago  upon  the 
number  of  her  monuments,  adding  that  the  most  beauti- 
ful one  of  them,  the  Washington  monument,  a  white 
marble  column  2CX)  feet  tall  surmounted  by  a  statue  of 
the  first  president,  called  to  his  mind  the  lofty  column  in 
the  Place  Vendome  in  Paris.  Of  the  Battle  Monument, 
which  was  erected  in  memory  of  the  soldiers  of  Balti- 
more who  fell  in  the  War  of  1812,  an  old  chronicle  re- 
cords that  on  the  day  the  corner-stone  was  laid  a  long 
procession  of  citizens  passed  through  the  streets  of  the 
city  to  Monument  Square,  a  feature  of  the  procession 
being  a  funeral  car  surmounted  with  a  model  of  the 
intended  shaft  drawn  by  six  white  horses,  caparisoned 
and  led  by  six  men  in  military  uniform.  The  corner- 
stone is  inscribed,  "On  the  12th  day  of  September,  181 5, 

91 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

in  the  fortieth  year  of  Independence,  James  Madison  be- 
ing President,  the  Monument  is  dedicated  to  the  memory 
of  the  brave  defenders  of  the  city."  The  monument,  as 
a  study  of  the  illustration  discloses,  is  of  a  peculiar  style 
of  architecture.  The  square  base  twenty  feet  high  is  of 
Egyptian  type,  the  four  corners  of  the  pedestal  being 
ornamented  with  sculptured  griffins,  and  a  door  with  in- 
scriptions and  reliefs  being  a  feature  of  each  front. 
The  column  is  in  the  form  of  a  bundle  of  Roman  fasces, 
upon  the  bands  of  which  are  inscribed  the  names  of  those 
whom  it  commemorates;  the  whole  is  surmounted  by  a 
female  figure,  the  emblematical  genius  of  the  city. 

An  elderly  resident  of  Baltimore  records  the  fact  that 
the  first  hospital  building  was  located  on  Franklin  Street, 
near  Calverton,  outside  the  city  limits,  and  that  this 
foundation  remained  the  city  hospital  until  the  year  1851, 
when  Baltimore  removed  the  institution  within  the 
municipality;  the  original  structure  is  the  one  here  pre- 
sented. The  poor  of  Baltimore,  before  a  special  home 
for  them  had  been  provided,  were  supported  by  a  tax  of 
tobacco.  From  the  years  18 12  to  1866,  they  were  lodged 
in  the  spacious  institution  situated  in  the  outskirts  of  the 
city  which  the  potter-historians  discovered  and  made  sub- 
ject for  decoration. 

The  University  of  Maryland  was  founded  at  a  much 
later  date  than  the  colleges  of  the  northern  cities  which 
have  been  considered,  having  been  chartered  in  the  year 

92 


THE  BALTIMORE  EXCHANGE 
( Unknown  Maker) 


BATTLE  MONUiMENT  ERECTED  TO  THE  HEROES  OF  1812 

(Jackson) 


EARLY  BALTIMORE 

1807.  The  rather  indistinct  view  of  the  University 
building  which  is  presented  upon  the  cup  is  of  a  dome- 
covered  structure  with  a  many-columned  facade.  Balti- 
more was  the  pioneer  city  in  steam  railway  enterprise, 
as  a  later  chapter  will  explain.  One  of  her  citizens, 
Peter  Cooper,  invented  the  first  type  of  locomotive  to  be 
tried  on  rails  in  this  country,  the  "Tom  Thumb."  Pic- 
tures also  of  the  earliest  engines  in  use  upon  the  Balti- 
more and  Ohio  railway,  one  of  the  first  roads  in  the  coun- 
try and  one  of  the  first  highways  into  the  great  unculti- 
vated region  west  of  Baltimore,  will  be  found  in  another 
chapter. 


93 


CHAPTER  VI 

WASHINGTON,    THE    NEW    CAPITAL 

LIKE  Philadelphia,  Washington  was  carefully- 
planned;  unlike  Philadelphia  or  any  other  city  of 
the  Union,  Washington  was  built  for  a  special  purpose. 
The  youthful  Government  of  the  United  States  was  in 
need  of  a  fitting  home  of  its  own,  a  city  wherein  its 
President  and  other  officers  of  government  might  reside, 
and  where  Congress  might  meet  and  make  the  laws. 
The  first  President  of  the  new  Republic  had  taken  the 
oath  of  office  in  New  York,  and  for  some  time  Congress 
had  assembled  in  the  State  House  in  Philadelphia;  but 
those  cities,  together  with  the  others  which  the  Union 
considered,  were  situated  along  the  north  Atlantic  sea- 
coast  out  of  ready  touch  with  the  States  of  the  South, 
and  for  the  most  part,  they  were  centers  of  growing  com- 
mercial activity,  with  interests  inclining  towards  trade 
and  therefore  unsuited  to  the  business  of  government. 

Where  should  the  future  Capital  be  located?  The 
discussion  aroused  bitter  controversy,  the  Northern 
States  not  wishing  it  placed  too  far  south,  and  the  South 
fearing  it  might  be  situated  too  far  north  to  be  mindful 
of  the  interests  of  the  growing  States  of  its  own  section. 

94 


o 


w 


Ah 


WASHINGTON,  THE  NEW  CAPITAL 

At  last,  as  a  compromise,  a  plot  of  ground  on  the  bank 
of  the  Potomac  River  was  settled  upon  as  being  "as  near 
as  possible  to  the  center  of  wealth,  of  population  and  of 
territory,"  and  President  Washington  was  chosen  to 
select  the  site  and  to  arrange  for  the  building  of  the  fu- 
ture Capitol.  He  called  to  his  aid  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
James  Madison,  and  together  the  three  settled  upon  the 
attractive  situation  with  which  we  are  familiar,  an  inter- 
esting view  of  which  is  presented  upon  a  plate — the  V- 
shaped  rolling  plain  lying  between  the  junction  of  the 
Potomac  and  its  eastern  branch. 

The  next  step  was  to  plan  the  new  city,  and  the  pro- 
posed design  became  such  a  widely  debated  topic  that  a 
drawing  of  it  was  carried  over  seas  to  the  English  pot- 
teries, and  may  be  found  to-day  upon  a  yellow  jug  of 
Liverpool.  Washington  chose  for  the  task  of  planning 
the  new  city  a  French  resident  of  this  country,  Major 
I'Enfant,  who  carefully  examined  the  site  from  all 
points,  and,  realizing  the  fact  that  he  was  creating  a 
capitol  not  alone  for  thirteen  States  and  three  millions  of 
people,  but  for  a  future  mighty  republic,  he  studied  the 
plans  of  several  of  the  beautiful  cities  of  Europe — Rome, 
Paris,  London,  Venice.  Jefferson  told  him  that  in  his 
opinion  none  equaled  the  design  of  Philadelphia,  "old 
Babylon  revived";  but  I'Enfant  considered  the  chess- 
board effect  of  Philadelphia's  streets  too  monotonous,  his 
idea  embracing  three  or  four  wide  avenues  running 

95 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

obliquely  across  the  city  in  order  to  introduce  pleasing 
curves  and  angles,  as  well  as  to  render  communication 
more  ready. 

L'Enfant's  design,  substantially  as  it  appears  in  the 
illustration,  was  the  one  finally  adopted.  This  charm- 
ingly executed  drawing,  full  of  significant  details,  is 
worthy  of  careful  attention.  Two  graceful  figures  of 
women  stand  under  the  spreading  branches  of  a  tree 
holding  aloft  a  scroll  unrolled  to  view,  above  which  is 
inscribed,  "Plan  of  the  City  of  Washington."  The 
figure  at  the  left,  matronly  and  commanding,  with  the 
British  emblem  upon  a  shield  at  her  feet,  is  supposedly 
Britannia;  the  other  figure,  designated  America  by  a 
nearby  eagle-adorned  standard,  is  gazing  interestedly 
upon  the  circular  spot  in  the  center  of  the  design,  pre- 
sumably the  site  of  the  future  Capitol  of  the  new  Repub- 
lic, to  which  her  elder  sister  is  pointing  with  her  finger 
as  if  in  the  act  of  explanation — or,  possibly,  considering 
the  source  of  the  production,  may  it  not  be  admonition? 
The  Capitol-site  is  upon  the  summit  of  a  hill,  with  the 
President's  house  one  mile  away,  down  a  broad  avenue, 
or  mall.  Running  east  and  west  across  the  design  are 
the  many  parallel  streets  which  were  named  for  the  let- 
ters of  the  alphabet,  A,  B,  C,  and  so  on;  while  running 
north  and  south,  at  right  angles  to  them,  laid  out  in  the 
drawing  in  prospective  blocks,  are  other  streets  num- 
bered I,  2,  3,  etc.     Radiating  from  the  Capitol  and  from 

96 


WASHINGTON,  THE  NEW  CAPITAL 

the  Executive  Mansion,  start  sixteen  wide  avenues, 
named  for  the  sixteen  States  which  comprised  the  Re- 
public in  the  year  1800.  The  avenues,  as  may  be  seen, 
cut  the  checkerboard  at  every  variety  of  angle  and  form 
the  squares,  triangles  and  circles  which  render  so  beauti- 
ful the  Washington  of  to-day.  In  the  background  of  the 
illustration  several  sailing  vessels  appear  upon  a  placid 
expanse  of  sea,  while  the  foreground  shows  a  bit  of  the 
"mille  fleurs"  pattern  so  popular  in  early  decorative  art. 

Originally,  the  grounds  of  the  Capitol  and  of  the  Presi- 
dent's House  extended  to  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  the 
"States"  design  reproduced  in  another  chapter  as  well  as 
the  view  of  the  President's  mansion  here  given  indi- 
cating its  lawn  sloping  to  the  river's  edge.  An  eques- 
trian statue  of  Washington  as  an  historic  column  from 
which  all  distances  on  the  continent  were  to  be  calculated, 
five  fountains  and  a  grand  cascade  were  among  the  fea- 
tures of  the  original  plan  which  either  were  omitted  or 
altered.  The  new  city  unanimously  received  the  name 
of  the  first  President  and  of  its  founder,  Washington. 

In  the  year  1793  the  Capitol  and  the  President's  House 
were  begun,  and  for  several  years  thereafter  the 
growing  city  was  but  a  huge  workshop,  when  long  lines 
of  teams  might  have  been  seen  hauling  blocks  of  Vir- 
ginia sandstone  from  the  river-landing  to  the  places 
where  the  new  structures  were  rising.  As  soon  as  the 
walls  of  the  Capitol  were  laid,  sculptors  and  skilled 

97 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

artisans  were  summoned  from  Europe  to  chisel  the  orna- 
ments upon  them;  finally,  in  the  autumn  of  1800,  one 
wing  was  sufficiently  completed  for  the  use  of  Congress, 
and  a  "packet  sloop"  sailed  up  the  river  bearing  to  their 
new  home  the  public  records  and  furniture  of  the  Govern- 
ment. At  the  same  time,  the  President's  House,  though 
not  completed,  was  put  in  the  best  order  possible  for  the 
occupation  of  President  Adams;  in  the  meanwhile, 
George  Washington,  the  founder,  having  passed  away 
at  Mount  Vernon,  before  his  eyes  could  look  upon  the 
government  of  his  nation  housed  in  the  city  he  had 
planned. 

Mrs.  Adams  was  the  first  lady  of  the  Executive  Man- 
sion, and  her  letters  give  us  charming  pictures  of  the 
young  capital  city,  then  numbering  about  three  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  of  the  beginnings  of  its  official  life.  On 
her  way  to  her  new  home  she  drove  from  Baltimore; 
"woods  are  all  you  see  from  Baltimore  until  you  reach 
the  city — which  is  only  so  in  name,"  she  wrote  to  a 
friend.  But,  in  spite  of  the  slight  progress  it  had  made 
in  the  twelve  years  of  its  existence,  Mrs.  Adams  calls 
Washington  a  beautiful  spot,  and  adds,  "The  more  I 
view  it,  the  more  I  am  delighted  with  it."  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  which  now  sweeps  so  stately  from  the  Capitol  to 
the  White  House,  was,  in  the  year  1800,  mostly  a  deep 
morass  covered  with  alder  bushes,  fine  buildings  being 
few  and  far  apart,  the  roads  muddy  and  sidewalks  al- 

98 


PLAN  OF  CITY  OF  WASHINGTON 
(Liverpool  Pitcher) 


THE  PRESIDENT'S  HOUSE 
Rebuilt  after  Being  Burned — South  Front 
{Jackson) 


EARLY  VIEW  OF  THE  CAPITOL  FROM 

THE  PRESIDENT'S  HOUSE 

(Wood) 


SITE  OF  THE  CITY  OF  WASHINGTON 
{Unknown  Maker) 


WASHINGTON,  THE  NEW  CAPITAL 

most  unknown.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  that  disgusted 
statesmen  wrote  home  to  their  families  that  the  new 
home  of  the  Government  was  "A  Wilderness  City,"  "A 
City  of  Streets  without  Houses,"  "A  City  of  Magnificent 
Distances,"  "A  Mud  Hole,"  etc. 

Northern  journals  stirred  up  feeling  against  the  Capi- 
tal, reviling  its  lonely  situation  and  its  slow  growth. 
"The  national  bantling,  called  the  city  of  Washington," 
they  said,  "remains  after  ten  years  of  expensive  foster- 
ing a  rickety  infant  unable  to  go  alone."  "There  sits 
the  President,"  they  went  on,  "like  a  pelican  in  the 
wilderness,  or  a  sparrow  upon  the  housetop";  they  at- 
tempted, however,  without  success,  to  have  the  "bant- 
ling" removed  to  Baltimore. 

In  August,  1814,  before  the  city  had  been  completed, 
the  War  of  181 2  was  nearing  its  close,  and  to  Washing- 
ton came  the  British  soldiers  to  destroy — a  deed  of  re- 
prisal inspired  and  executed  by  remembrance  of  the  de- 
struction of  the  Government  buildings  of  York,  the  capi- 
tol  of  Canada,  by  the  soldiers  of  General  Pike.  A  com- 
pany of  redcoats  reached  the  Capitol  about  six  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  and  for  sport  they  fired  volleys  into  the 
windows;  they  trooped  into  the  Hall  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  and  held  a  mock  session:  "Shall  this 
harbor  of  Yankee  democracy  be  burned  ?  All  for  it  say 
*Aye'!"  was  the  question.  There  was  no  opposition. 
"Ayes"  and  cheers  rang  out,  books  and  papers  from  the 

99 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Library  of  Congress,  desks  and  chairs  were  heaped  for 
fuel,  and  within  half  an  hour  the  beautiful  edifice  was  in 
ruins,  the  bare  walls  only  remaining  erect.  On  to  the 
President's  House  the  British  soldiers  went,  hoping  to 
find  President  Madison  and  his  wife,  whom  they  wished 
"to  exhibit  in  England,"  but  the  doors  were  locked  and 
the  occupants,  taking  with  them  the  document  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  a  portrait  of  Washing- 
ton, had  fled.  A  torch  was  applied,  and  the  mansion  to- 
gether with  all  its  furnishings  was  burned;  the  Patent 
Office,  the  Post  Office,  a  hotel  and  a  few  dwellings  only 
escaped  the  general  destruction  of  the  city.  "The  world 
is  speedily  to  be  delivered  of  a  Government  founded  on 
democratic  rebellion"  was  the  approving  comment  of  a 
London  journal  upon  the  incident. 

The  sketches  for  the  old-china  illustrations  of  the 
Capitol  and  the  President's  House  were  made  soon  after 
the  city  was  rebuilt,  for,  notwithstanding  their  work  of 
demolition,  the  British  were  among  the  first  to  picture 
the  glories  of  the  restored  capital  city  of  the  young  Re- 
public. No  less  than  six  potters  used  prints  of  the  Capi- 
tol, the  handsomest  building  in  America  at  the  time  Staf- 
fordshire pottery  was  made — a  distinction  which  in  its 
present  enlarged  form,  keeping  pace  with  the  Republic's 
growth  and  importance,  it  proudly  holds  to  the  present 
day — and  in  them  it  may  be  seen  rebuilt  and  remodeled, 
more  imposing  than  before  its  ruin  by  fire.     But  the 

ipo 


WASHINGTON,  THE  NEW  CAPITAL 

work  of  restoration  had  been  slow,  the  autumn  of  1819 
seeing  the  Sixteenth  Congress  in  possession  of  the  new 
wings  only,  the  main  portion  being  yet  incomplete.  In 
the  year  1824,  Lafayette  found  workmen  still  engaged 
upon  the  building.  At  the  time  of  the  distinguished 
Frenchman's  visit  the  city  had  a  population  of  thirteen 
thousand,  but  "it  was  not  rare,"  he  recorded,  "to  see  a 
plough  tracing  a  furrow  along  Pennsylvania  Avenue." 
As  late  as  the  year  1842,  Charles  Dickens,  after  his  visit 
to  Washington,  wrote  that  "its  streets  begin  in  nothing 
and  lead  nowhere." 

The  illustration  of  the  Capitol  which  is  here  shown  *  is 
of  unusual  interest,  being  taken  from  a  sketch  made 
about  the  year  1830,  and  presenting  but  the  kernel  of 
the  present  structure,  before  the  addition  of  dome  and 
extended  wings.  In  this  view,  the  lines  of  the  Capitol 
bear  a  resemblance  to  the  City  Hall  in  New  York,  its 
pilastered  wings,  columned  entrance  and  approach  of 
many  steps  exhibiting  those  characteristic  details  which 
make  of  the  Capitol  one  of  the  best  examples  of  the  re- 
vival of  classic  influence  in  architecture,  known  in  Amer- 
ica as  Colonial,  to  be  found  in  the  United  States.  In 
place  of  the  proud  group  of  structures  which  at  the  pres- 
ent time  share  with  it  the  imposing  hill-top  site,  the  Capi- 
tol is  here  portrayed  surrounded  with  a  grassy  lawn  set 
with  spreading  trees,  the  large  tree  in  the  foreground  no 

*As  the  frontispiece. 

lOI 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

doubt  being  intended  for  the  Washington  Elm  which  was 
planted  by  the  first  President.  In  the  foreground,  two 
equestrian  figures  gowned  in  the  styles  of  the  day  are 
pictured  as  pointing  with  their  riding  whips  to  the  great 
foundation.  The  Capitol  dome,  for  which  the  present 
structure  is  justly  famed,  required  eight  years  of  labor 
to  erect.  As  one  approaches  the  city  of  Washington 
and  looks  upon  the  airy  dome  lightly  soaring  above  the 
roof-tops  of  the  city,  the  scene  calls  to  mind  distant  views 
of  Florence  dominated  by  Brunelleschi's  famous  cathe- 
dral dome,  or  of  St.  Peter's  seen  from  the  Pincian  Hill 
in  Rome.  But,  proclaiming  it  a  product  and  expression 
of  another  system  of  government,  from  its  summit 
springs  a  colossal  figure  of  Freedom,  represented  as  a 
goddess,  her  feet  resting  upon  a  globe  inscribed  E 
Pluribus  Unum,  the  motto  of  the  United  States, 
her  head  bound  with  a  circlet  of  stars,  and  crowned  with 
eagles'  plumes.  The  inner  walls  of  the  great  dome,  or 
Rotunda,  are  decorated  with  mural  paintings  which  illus- 
trate scenes  of  the  pioneer  history  of  America. 

The  President's  House,  as  exhibited  in  the  view  upon 
the  plate,  presents  the  appearance  it  did  soon  after  it  was 
rebuilt  about  a  century  ago — "a  very  simple  building, 
but  in  good  taste,"  was  Lafayette's  comment  as  he  viewed 
it.  Here  one  sees  a  substantial  structure  of  Virginia 
sandstone,  designed  after  the  approved  Colonial  style  of 
the  period,  with  a  formally-  laid-out  garden  of  walks  and 

IQ2 


WASHINGTON,  THE  NEW  CAPITAL 

parterres  at  the  entrance,  or  south  front,  which  was  orig- 
inally planned  as  the  main  entrance — the  growth  of  the 
city  changing  it  later  on  to  the  north  side.  To  cover  the 
marks  of  the  fire  upon  the  blackened  walls,  white  paint 
was  used  when  the  mansion  was  rebuilt — the  fact  which 
gave  to  it  the  popular,  and  later  on  the  official, 
title  of  White  House.  At  the  present  time,  although 
enriched  with  the  addition  of  a  portico  and  a  colonnade, 
the  home  of  our  Presidents  is  fittingly  defined  by  the 
modest  phrase  of  the  observing  Frenchman. 

A  visit  to  the  capital  city  to-day  is  not  complete  with- 
out an  ascent  of  Washington  Monument,  the  imposing 
pile  erected  in  memory  of  the  founder  of  the  city,  the 
first  President.  Lining  the  interior  as  one  ascends  the 
shaft  may  be  seen  marble  tablets  set  in  the  walls,  each 
one  engraved  with  the  name  of  the  donor — State  or  so- 
ciety which  from  all  parts  of  the  world  contributed  them 
as  memorials  to  Washington.  From  the  summit,  one 
is  able  to  comprehend  the  plan  of  the  city,  locating  the 
Capitol  and  the  White  House,  with  the  connecting,  but 
still  unfinished.  Mall,  and  the  Government  buildings; 
tracing  the  parallel  streets  and  intersecting  avenues 
spread  out  to  view  as  upon  a  map;  noting  also,  in  this 
city  dedicated  solely  to  the  uses  of  the  government  of  a 
great  nation,  the  absence  of  all  those  signs  of  industry 
and  of  commerce  which  are  such  prominent  features  in 
the  illustrations  of  the   cities  previously  considered. 

103 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Finally,  the  gaze  of  the  beholder  wanders  over  the  beau- 
tiful stretch  of  valley,  down  the  broad  sweep  of  the  Po- 
tomac, until  it  rests  upon  Mount  Vernon,  the  spot  where, 
nestling  in  the  dusky  grove  of  cypresses,  are  the  modest 
home  and  tomb  of  the  city's  and  the  nation's  founder. 

Washington  is  destined  to  lead  in  beauty  all  other 
American  cities,  and  when  I'Enf ant's  original  plan  shall 
one  day  be  carried  to  completion,  with  its  glorious  Mall, 
lined  on  either  side  with  suitable  structures,  sweeping 
majestically  from  the  President's  Mansion  up  the  hill  to 
the  Capitol,  as  its  characteristic  feature,  it  will,  as  its 
founder  and  designer  dreamed,  vie  in  distinction  with  the 
renowned  cities  of  the  world. 


104 


PART  II 

THE  AMERICAN  NATION-BUILDERS  AND 
THEIR  WORK 


THE  LANDING  OF  THE  FATHERS  AT  PLYMOUTH 
(Enoch  Wood) 


LANDING  OF  THE  PILGRIMS 
(Enoch  Wood) 


CHAPTER  VII 

PIONEERS  OF   AMERICA 

<<"wp  you  are  fond  of  romance,  read  history," — the 


I 


counsel  of  the  learned  Frenchman  applies  with 
special  force  to  the  stories  of  America's  pioneers,  for  the 
true  record  of  their  adventures  surpasses  in  marvels  the 
fanciful  imaginings  of  the  weavers  of  romance.  Out  of 
the  long  list  of  achievements  of  those  adventurous  spirits 
of  many  lands  who,  from  motives  of  conquest,  explora- 
tion or  home-making,  braved  the  perils  of  unknown  seas 
and  came  to  America,  the  English  potters  selected  but 
three  incidents  to  illustrate  and  reproduce  upon  the  sets 
of  tableware  destined  for  this  young  Republic — the 
Landing  of  Christopher  Columbus,  the  Landing  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  the  Treaty  of  William  Penn  with 
the  Indians. 

The  first  series  of  views,  numbering  nine  or  more  from 
the  pottery  works  of  Adams  in  Tunstall,  Staffordshire, 
are  fanciful  sketches  of  the  Landing  of  Christopher 
Columbus  in  America.  Printed  in  red,  green,  purple,  or 
black,  upon  plates  and  platters,  the  designs  portray  a  wil- 
derness inlet,  with  two,  sometimes  three,  caravels  at  an- 
chor in  the  bay,  and  small  boats  coming  from  them  to  the 

ip7 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

shore.  Columbus  is  represented  upon  the  beach,  to- 
gether with  one  or  more  of  his  Spanish  companions ;  and 
native  redmen  in  picturesque  costumes  are  in  hiding  be- 
hind clumps  of  trees  and  shrubs.  Tents  and  dogs  are 
also  in  evidence,  and  upon  one  plate,  here  presented,  an 
Indian  is  shooting  at  a  wild  goose.  The  border  of  the 
series  consists  of  a  pattern  of  roses,  alternating  with 
scrolls  framing  tiny  landscape  scenes,  wherein  roam  wild 
deer  and  moose — animals  native  to  the  Western  Conti- 
nent. The  trees  and  foliage  of  the  Columbus  series  are 
tropical — tall  cocoanut  palms  with  fruit  among  the 
leaves,  broad-leaved  banana  plants  and  other  growths  of 
the  southland  which  Columbus  found;  for  the  English 
potters,  like  Columbus,  long  imagined  the  entire  length 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere  one  stretch  of  tropic  or  Ori- 
ental wilderness. 

Indeed,  the  beliefs  of  European  peoples  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  in  which  Columbus  lived,  in  regard  to  the  earth 
seem  at  the  present  time  extremely  curious.  The 
marvelous  tales  which  Marco  Polo  and  his  father  had 
brought  to  Europe  a  century  before  from  their  journey 
into  the  Far  East,  and  the  glitter  of  the  diamonds,  emer- 
alds, rubies  and  pearls  which  fell  from  out  their  coats 
when  the  seams  were  opened  at  a  famous  dinner  party 
in  Venice,  still  dazzled  the  minds  of  men.  To  find  a 
shorter  and  less  dangerous  route  to  that  kingdom  which 
Marco  had  discovered  in  Cathay,  ruled  over  by  a  Tartar 

io8 


PIONEERS  OF  AMERICA 

Khan  who  dwelt  in  a  palace  roofed  with  plates  of  gold, 
was  the  dream  of  every  seaman.  Wise  men  were  say- 
ing, as  some  of  the  ancient  Greeks  had  done,  that  the 
earth  was  a  sphere  or  a  pear-shaped  object  rather  than 
the  flat  surface  they  had  been  taught  to  believe  it — why 
not,  then,  to  the  west  instead  of  to  the  east,  might  lie 
the  shore  of  India  where  dwelt  the  lordly  Khan? 
Thus  Columbus  argued,  and  his  final  doubt  was  removed 
when  a  learned  man  of  Florence  sent  him  a  globe  and  a 
chart,  both  plainly  marked  with  the  western  route  to  the 
eastern  shores  "where  the  spices  grow." 

But  when  Columbus  laid  his  plan  of  sailing  westward 
in  search  of  India  before  King  Ferdinand  and  Queen 
Isabella,  the  learned  company  which  they  called  together 
to  question  him  declared  that  it  would  take  three  years 
of  sailing  to  reach  this  far-off  shore,  and  that  the  sailors 
would  die  of  starvation  before  they  came  to  it.  "Is  any 
one  so  foolish  to  believe,"  they  asked,  "that  there  are 
antipodes  with  their  feet  opposite  to  ours;  people  who 
walk  with  their  heels  upward  and  their  heads  hanging 
down?  Where  trees  grow  with  their  branches  down- 
wards, and  where  it  rains,  hails  and  snows  upwards?" 
Several  of  them  objected  that  should  a  ship  at  last  suc- 
ceed in  reaching  India,  it  would  be  impossible  for  it  to 
climb  up  the  rotundity  of  the  globe  and  get  back  again. 

Familiar  to  all  is  the  story  of  the  three  caravels,  how 
they  were  fitted  out  in  the  harbor  of  Palos  in  Spain,  the 

109 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Queen  selling  her  jewels  to  obtain  the  necessary  funds 
for  the  expedition,  and  how  Columbus  and  his  compan- 
ions, after  prayers  were  said  for  their  safety,  sailed  out 
amid  the  tears  and  cheers  of  their  friends,  into  the  un- 
known waste  of  sea. 

At  last  the  morning  of  October  12,  in  the  year  1492, 
dawns.  Upon  the  plate  the  hero  is  pictured  stepping 
upon  the  far-off  shore,  the  ten  weeks  of  sailing  into  the 
trackless  West,  of  watching  for  signs  of  land,  of  cheer- 
ing the  disheartened  spirits  of  his  men  at  an  end,  his 
dreams  come  true.  Two  of  the  Spanish  caravels  ride  at 
anchor  in  the  harbor,  a  small  boat  filled  with  their  men 
approaching  shore.  This  to  them  is  a  new  country  and 
these  are  a  strange  people  who  greet  them — Indians, 
Columbus  names  them — upon  whose  naked  bodies  gleam 
rude  ornaments  of  gold,  and  who  crouch  in  fear  behind 
the  trees,  bows  and  arrows  in  their  hands  ready  for  de- 
fense. Is  not  this  a  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Kublai 
Khan — perhaps  the  island  of  Cimpango  (Japan)  which 
Marco  told  about  ?  Columbus,  as  the  illustrated  platter 
shows,  comes  ashore  arrayed  in  scarlet  clothes,  the  royal 
ensign  in  his  hands.  Behind  him  follow  his  men,  some 
bearing  crosses,  others  holding  aloft  the  standard  of  the 
enterprise — a  green  banner  embroidered  with  crowns 
and  the  letters  F  and  Y,  the  initials  of  Spain's  rulers 
Fernando  and  Ysabel.  Columbus  kneels,  kisses  the 
ground  and  draws  his  sword  in  the  name  of  Spain,  call- 

IIO 


PIONEERS  OF  AMERICA 

ing  the  land  in  honor  of  their  safe  arrival,  San  Salvador 
— now  Watling's  Island. 

The  Spaniards  are  no  less  objects  of  wonder  to  the 
natives.  Observe  them  in  the  picture  peering  from  be- 
hind the  palm  trees  at  the  marvelous  beings  who,  as  they 
believe,  have  flown  down  from  the  sky  in  their  winged 
boats.  They  come  out  from  their  hiding  places  and 
touch  the  beards  and  armor  and  dress  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  they  gladly  exchange  their  golden  ornaments  for  the 
gay  caps,  beads  and  bells  which  are  offered  them.  When 
asked  where  the  gold  comes  from,  they  point  to  the  south 
and  say  that  a  great  king  lives  there  who  is  so  rich  that 
he  is  served  in  vessels  of  gold — surely,  thinks  Columbus, 
the  "Khan"  of  Marco's  tales. 

After  building  a  rude  fort  and  a  few  huts  on  the 
nearby  Island  of  Haiti,  Columbus  left  a  number  of  his 
men  to  search  the  island  for  gold,  while  he  himself  sailed 
back  to  Spain.  Upon  his  arrival,  he  arranged  a  proces- 
sion of  American  Indians  bearing  palm  branches  and 
gayly  colored  parrots — Indians  and  palms  and  parrots 
all  brought  by  him  from  the  new  world  he  had  discov- 
ered. The  procession  wound  its  way  through  the 
crowded  streets  of  Barcelona  to  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
who  were  seated  upon  a  throne  in  the  open  air,  under  a 
canopy  of  gold  brocade,  and  there  Columbus  related  his 
adventures. 

It  may  be  a  surprise  to  find  horses  pictured  in  one 

III 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Columbus  view,  but  Columbus  tells  us  in  his  journal  that 
upon  his  second  voyage  to  the  new  land  he  brought 
Spanish  horses,  as  well  as  other  animals,  in  the  little 
caravels.  His  men  rode  the  horses  into  the  interior  of 
the  island  to  visit  the  gold  mines  in  the  mountains,  and 
the  latives  upon  seeing  them  believed  them  a  new  kind 
of  being,  the  horse  and  rider  one  animal,  and  great  was 
their  astonishment  when  the  men  dismounted.  Of  the 
subsequent  adventures  of  Columbus  in  his  later  journeys 
to  America  the  potter-historians  have  left  no  record,  but 
the  remainder  of  the  tale,  which  the  pictured  dishes  have 
given  us  an  eager  desire  to  learn,  may  be  found  in  the 
delightful  diary  of  his  daily  life  in  the  Western  Hemis- 
phere which  Columbus  kept  for  Queen  Isabella. 

Although  Columbus,  by  finding  land  to  the  west,  had 
the  good  fortune  to  solve  "the  mystery  of  the  age,"  to  the 
end  of  his  life  he  never  knew  that  he  had  discovered  a 
world.  But  another  mystery,  one  which  in  his  time 
puzzled  the  minds  of  scholars,  Columbus  believed  he  had 
cleared — the  whereabouts  of  the  Garden  of  Eden.  Wise 
men  had  located  the  home  of  our  first  parents  in  various 
parts  of  Asia;  Dante  in  his  Divine  Comedy  had  placed 
it  upon  a  mountaintop  in  the  midst  of  the  southern 
ocean;  Columbus,  one  day  while  coasting  the  northern 
shore  of  South  America,  was  almost  capsized  by  a  swift 
flood  of  fresh  water  which  poured  out  of  the  land  and, 
as  he  said,  "sweetened  the  sea."     He  believed  that  this 

112 


LANDING  OF  COLUMBUS— TWO  CARAVELS 
{A  dams) 


COLUMBUS— L^DL\N  SHOOTLXG  WILD  GOOSE 
(Adams) 


PIONEERS  OF  AMERICA 

flood,  now  known  as  the  Orinoco  River,  descended  from 
a  great  height  of  land  which  was  the  summit  of  the  pear- 
shaped  earth,  and  that  this  river  had  its  origin  in  the 
Fountain  which  springs  from  the  Tree  of  Life,  in  the 
midst  of  the  Garden  of  Eden. 

THE  LANDING  OF  THE   PILGRIMS 

The  second  romance  of  pioneer  America  which  is  re- 
corded in  the  pottery  decorations  is  also  a  "Landing" 
scene,  but,  in  place  of  a  gayly  clad  hero  joyfully  claiming 
a  new  world  for  a  royal  crown,  here  is  pictured  a  small 
band  of  English  Pilgrims  struggling  in  a  stormy  sea  to 
draw  their  shallop  upon  the  "rockbound  coast"  of  New 
England.  Out  at  anchor  in  the  bay  rides  the  small, 
three-masted  sailing  vessel,  the  Mayflower,  which  after 
a  cold,  bleak  voyage  of  63  days  has  brought  the  company 
of  102  brave  souls  from  the  Old  World  to  seek  in  this 
untried  wilderness  of  the  New,  freedom  to  worship  God, 
not  according  to  the  laws  of  a  king,  but  in  response  to  the 
dictates  of  their  own  consciences. 

Upon  leaving  the  harbor  of  Plymouth,  in  England, 
the  Pilgrims  wished  to  find  homes  near  the  Delaware 
River,  but  had  been  driven  by  storms  far  to  the  north, 
sighting  first  the  land  of  Cape  Cod,  where  they  decided 
to  embark.  Two  days  after  reaching  the  site  of  their 
future  homes,  on  November  11,  1620,  the  Mayflower's 
company,  wishing  to  "combine  together  in  one  body  and 

"3 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

to  submit  to  such  government  and  governors  as  we 
should  by  common  consent  make  and  choose,"  signed 
a  Compact  in  the  cabin,  pledging  themselves  faithfully  to 
keep  what  laws  should  be  made — the  first  Declaration  of 
Independence  in  America  and  the  herald  of  that  freedom 
in  matters  of  government  which  has  made  of  this  coun- 
try a  Promised  Land.  After  five  weeks  of  exploration, 
the  Mayftower  reached  the  shore  of  Plymouth,  the  excel- 
lent bay,  the  wooded  hills  and  pleasant  streams  which 
they  discovered  deciding  the  party  to  land;  a  bowlder 
protected  by  an  ornamental  shelter  to-day  marks  the 
spot  upon  which  the  Pilgrims  first  set  foot  in  America. 

In  the  illustration,  may  be  seen  John  Alden,  "the 
youngest  of  those  who  came  in  the  Mayflower''  stepping 
first  upon  the  rock.  The  two  Indians  standing  on  shore, 
one  of  them  with  arms  outstretched  as  if  in  welcome,  are 
no  doubt  intended  by  the  artist  to  represent  Samoset  and 
Squanto,  who  unexpectedly  appeared  at  the  new  settle- 
ment and  astonished  the  people  by  saying  in  the  excellent 
English  which  they  had  learned  from  earlier  comers: 
"Welcome,  Englishmen!  Welcome,  Englishmen!"  and 
who,  after  a  treaty  had  been  arranged  between  Miles 
Standish  and  the  Indian  tribes,  proved  of  great  service 
in  teaching  the  Pilgrims  the  ways  of  life  in  the  strange 
wilderness.  Upon  the  rock,  may  be  read,  "Carver, 
Bradford,  Winslow,  Brewster  and  Standish," — five  of 
the  most  famous  names  of  that  little  company  who,  as 

114 


PIONEERS  OF  AMERICA 

William  Bradford  said,  "agreed  to  walk  together"  in 
this  new  land.  The  border  of  the  design  comprises  a 
sketch  of  the  national  eagle,  together  with  scrolls  en- 
circling the  later  historic  dates,  "America  Independent, 
July  4,  1776,"  and  "Washington  Born  1732,  Died  1799." 

John  Carver  was  chosen  the  first  Governor  of  the  Eng- 
lish colony,  and  before  the  first  spring  came  round  a 
row  of  low,  thatched-roofed,  log-houses  lined  one  side  of 
the  street  bordering  the  bay,  the  residence  of  the  Gov- 
ernor inclosed  in  a  square  blockade  upon  the  opposite 
side,  and  atop  the  neighboring  hill  a  fort  fortified  for  de- 
fense; a  meeting-house  and  a  store-house  had  also  been 
built.  But  the  first  spring  saw  likewise  the  graves  of 
over  one-half  the  band  who  had  come  in  the  Mayflower, 
John  Carver's  among  the  number,  the  cold  and  priva- 
tions of  the  wilderness  being  more  than  they  were  able 
to  endure ;  but,  "It  is  not  with  us  as  with  men  whom  small 
things  can  discourage  or  small  discontentments  cause 
to  wish  themselves  home  again,"  Elder  Brewster  said, 
speaking  for  the  entire  company.  To  succeed  Governor 
Carver,  they  selected  for  Governor  William  Bradford, 
who  remained  in  that  office  for  37  years.  As  the  months 
went  by,  however,  other  vessels  brought  to  them  from 
England  new  companions  and  fresh  stores  of  provisions, 
and  renewed  courage  was  theirs  to  establish  firmly  their 
own  and  other  colonies  along  the  Massachusetts  coast. 

Two  hundred  years  after  the  Landing  of  the  Pilgrim 

115 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Fathers,  in  the  year  1820,  the  specimens  of  tableware 
pictured  in  the  illustrations  were  made  in  the  pottery  of 
Enoch  Wood,  in  Staffordshire,  being  parts  of  dinner-sets 
which  at  that  time  were  sent  over  to  this  country  in 
large  quantities  as  souvenirs  of  the  many  celebrations  of 
the  bi-centennial.  Much  dining  and  speech-making  in 
honor  of  the  historic  Landing  took  place  that  year 
throughout  the  United  States,  the  principal  festivities 
being  held  in  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  the  scene  of  the 
original  incident.  And  the  banquet,  at  which  Daniel 
Webster  made  one  of  his  most  famous  addresses,  was 
served  upon  one  of  the  souvenir  dinner-sets,  the  guests, 
as  they  listened  to  the  speaker's  eloquent  periods,  look- 
ing down  upon  the  pictured  scene  which  was  the  theme 
of  his  inspiration. 

We  as  a  nation  owe  much  to  this  little  group  of  Puri- 
tan Fathers,  which  is  so  quaintly  presented  upon  the 
old  blue  dishes — the  deep  Christian  faith  which  they 
brought  with  them,  the  love  of  freedom,  the  respect  for 
law — convictions  which  took  firm  root  and  flourished 
bravely  in  the  fresh  New  England  soil.  And  later  on, 
from  out  that  Massachusetts  colony  of  noble  men  and 
women  there  sprang  and  grew  to  manhood  those  regi- 
ments of  fearless  and  liberty-loving  patriots  who,  in 
Revolutionary  times,  laid  so  strong  and  deep  the  founda- 
tions of  the  American  Republic.  With  Daniel  Webster 
upon   that   notable   anniversary   day,   we   would   ask: 

116 


1 


PIONEERS  OF  AMERICA 

**Who  would  wish  that  his  country's  existence  had  other- 
wise begun  ?" 

WILLIAM   PENN'S  TREATY  WITH   THE  INDIANS 

One  Staffordshire  potter,  Thomas  Green,  who  potted 
between  the  years  1847-59,  ^^  Fenton,  England,  seems 
to  have  made  use  of  but  a  single  episode  of  American 
history  for  the  decoration  of  the  ware  which  he  shipped 
across  the  sea  to  his  American  patrons — the  famous 
Treaty  of  Shackamaxon,  which  his  compatriot,  William 
Penn,  concluded  with  the  tribes  of  Indians  who  roamed 
the  forests  about  his  new  settlement  of  Philadelphia. 
As  many  as  a  dozen  variants  of  the  "Penn's  Treaty" 
scene  have  been  found  in  recent  years,  printed  upon 
plates  in  the  colors  of  the  later  period  of  Staffordshire 
manufacture — red,  black,  brown,  green,  pink  and  light 
blue — the  border  of  the  series  being  a  delicate  pattern 
of  small  diamond-shaped  figures  arranged  to  imitate 
open-work. 

The  sketches  used  in  the  Thomas  Green  pottery,  two 
of  which  are  presented,  are  the  product  of  the  imagina- 
tion of  English  draughtsmen,  who  held  somewhat  vague 
ideas  as  to  the  character  of  American  scenery.  The 
fact  of  the  Treaty  being  held  under  an  elm  tree  is  a 
tradition  so  well  established  that  dispute  is  futile,  the 
spreading  elm  pictured  in  old  prints  upon  the  bank  of 
the  Delaware  River  taking  its  place  in  the  galaxy  of  the 

117 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

world's  historic  trees.  Nevertheless,  in  these  sketches 
Penn  and  his  companions  are  represented  in  Quaker 
garb,  the  artist  having  omitted  to  designate  the  blue  silk 
sash  with  which,  tradition  says,  Penn  was  girt  about  the 
waist  upon  the  occasion,  standing  under  a  tall  cocoanut 
palm  tree  conspicuously  laden  with  fruit.  In  the  back- 
ground Eastern  pagodas  may  be  seen,  one  of  them  shel- 
tering a  group  of  squatting  squaws.  Upon  one  Treaty 
plate,  Penn  himself  may  be  found  in  the  robe  of  an 
oriental  mandarin — palms,  pagodas,  and  robe  all  proofs 
of  the  prevalent  English  belief  as  late  as  but  a  century 
ago  in  the  tropical  and  oriental  character  of  the  world 
which  Columbus  discovered,  an  idea  difficult,  it  seems, 
to  efface  from  the  European  mind,  which  for  so  long 
had  been  nourished  upon  the  adventures  of  Marco  Polo 
and  other  eastern  travelers  who  cherished  the  belief 
of  the  western  route  to  India.  Penn  is  represented  hold- 
ing the  parchment  Treaty  in  his  hand,  Indians  in  fan- 
ciful costumes,  with  beautiful  head-dresses,  are  con- 
versing with  him,  one  of  the  braves  extending  his  hand 
as  if  about  to  receive  the  document. 

Another  "Treaty"  scene,  printed  by  an  unknown  pot- 
ter upon  a  porcelain  plate,  is  a  reproduction  of  one  of 
Benjamin  West's  famous  paintings  of  the  historic  in- 
cident. Herein,  a  tall  branching  tree,  supposedly  the 
elm,  is  represented  as  sheltering  a  small  assemblage  of 
Indians  and  Quakers,  while  Penn  stands  in  the  center 

ii8 


LANDING  OF  COLUMBUS 
(Blue  and  White  Wedgwood  Pitcher,  in  the 
Dickins  Collection,  National  Museum, 
Washington,  D.  C.) 


WILLIAM  PENN'S  TREATY  WITH  THE  INDIANS 
(r.  G.) 


'^'■V.^  \ 


PENN'S  TREATY 
(T.  C.) 


PIONEERS  OF  AMERICA 

of  the  group  pointing  to  the  document,  which  is  being 
examined  by  the  braves  in  the  foreground.  The  back- 
ground presents  a  row  of  buildings.  Benjamin  West 
lived  in  Philadelphia  sufficiently  early  in  its  history  to 
have  heard  the  direct  tradition  of  the  Treaty,  and  in 
one  of  his  paintings  of  the  subject  he  drew  the  portrait 
of  his  grandfather  as  one  of  the  group  of  Friends  at- 
tendant upon  Penn,  history  recording  the  fact  that  he 
was  present  upon  the  occasion — a  fact  which,  it  is  said, 
inspired  West  to  become  a  painter  of  the  subject.  The 
English  characters  in  West's  paintings  were  all  in- 
tended to  be  resemblances  and  were  so  far  true  to  life 
that  at  least  one  old-time  citizen  of  Philadelphia  could 
name  them  all.  Much  to  the  regret  of  early  Philadel- 
phians,  however,  Penn  neglected  truth  so  far  as  to  have 
omitted  the  river  scenery;  to  have  given  a  wrong  im- 
pression of  the  form  of  the  Treaty  tree;  and  to  have 
put  into  the  background  a  range  of  houses  "which  were 
certainly  never  exactly  found  at  Shackamaxon."  But 
his  critics  declared  the  extenuating  circumstances  that 
the  artist  was  in  England  at  the  time  he  executed  the 
paintings,  and  therefore  could  have  no  picture  of  the 
scene  before  his  eyes. 

A  careful  study  of  all  of  the  designs,  however,  dis- 
plays neglect  of  the  actual  scene  upon  that  historic  oc- 
casion. Each  artist  has  failed  to  put  into  his  picture 
those  crescent-shaped  groups  of  redmen  who,  as  Penn 

119 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

records,  seated  themselves  in  the  open  air  by  the  river's 
side,  in  solemn  audience  upon  that  autumn  day  in  the 
year  1682,  "according  to  the  mode  of  their  ancestors, 
under  a  grove  of  shady  trees,  where  the  little  birds  on 
the  boughs  were  warbling  their  sweet  notes."  In  the 
front  row,  sat  the  chiefs  of  the  tribes  with  their  wise 
men  beside  them;  behind  these,  in  the  form  of  another 
half  moon,  sat  the  middle  aged  men;  and,  in  the  same 
form,  still  farther  back,  the  "young  fry." 

None  spoke  but  the  aged.  One  may  picture  to  him- 
self the  solemn  air  with  which  Penn  arose  and  pre- 
sented to  Tawenna,  the  Chief  Sachem,  the  roll  of  parch- 
ment— that  treaty  "which  was  not  sworn  to  and  never 
broken."  After  the  terms  of  the  treaty  had  been  ex- 
plained by  an  interpreter,  Penn  admonished  the  Indians 
to  preserve  the  parchment  carefully  for  three  genera- 
tions, that  their  children  might  know  what  had  passed 
between  them  just  as  if  he  had  remained  to  repeat  it. 

Thereupon,  the  Chief  Tawenna  slowly  rose  and  of- 
fered to  Penn,  in  exchange  for  the  parchment,  a  Belt 
of  Peace,  at  the  same  time  declaring  with  great  solem- 
nity that  "all  Penn's  people  and  all  the  Indians  shall 
be  brothers  of  one  father,  joined  together  as  with  one 
heart,  one  head  and  one  body;  that  all  the  paths  shall 
be  open  free  to  both ;  that  the  doors  of  Christian  houses 
and  the  wigwams  of  the  Indians  shall  be  open  and  the 
people  shall  make  one  another  welcome;  that  they  shall 

120 


PIONEERS  OF  AMERICA 

not  believe  false  rumors  of  one  another,  but,  when  heard, 
they  shall  bury  them  in  a  bottomless  pit;  that  no  harm 
shall  be  done,  one  to  another ;  that  complaints  of  wrong 
doing  shall  be  made  by  either  side;  and,  finally,  that 
both  Christians  and  Indians  shall  acquaint  their  children 
with  the  league  and  chain  of  friendship,  and  that  it  shall 
always  be  made  stronger  and  be  kept  bright  and  clean, 
without  rust  or  spot,  between  our  children  and  chil- 
dren's children,  while  the  creeks  and  rivers  run,  and 
while  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  endure." 

This  famous  Indian  Belt  of  Peace  is  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  as 
it  was  brought  over  from  England  in  the  year  1857 
by  a  great-grandson  of  William  Penn,  and  presented 
to  the  Society.  The  belt  is  woven  of  eighteen  strings 
of  wampum,  or  beads  made  from  muscle  shells  which 
grow  upon  the  shores  of  our  Southern  States.  It  is 
twenty-six  inches  long  and  nine  inches  wide,  the  color 
being  white,  which  signifies  that  it  is  a  Peace  Belt.  In 
the  center,  two  figures  made  of  violet  beads  are  repre- 
sented— one,  an  Indian,  is  grasping  in  friendship  the 
hand  of  another  man,  a  European,  known  by  the  fact 
that  he  has  a  hat  on  his  head !  The  Indian  belts  were  the 
customary  public  records  of  the  tribes  and  were  pre- 
served by  them  in  chests ;  they  were  taken  out  occasion- 
ally, and  the  words  spoken  again  which  were  spoken 
at  the  time  of  their  giving. 

121 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

In  this  manner,  as  the  old-china  records  call  to  mind, 
under  the  elm  tree  was  cemented  that  friendship  be- 
tween the  Pennsylvania  pioneers  and  their  savage  neigh- 
bors, which  made  possible  the  growth  and  prosperity  of 
Penn's  City  of  Brotherly  Love.  For  more  than  a  cen- 
tury after  the  Treaty,  the  historic  elm  stood  upon  the 
river  bank,  always  cared  for  in  the  midst  of  the  busy 
scenes  of  the  wharf.  In  the  later  years  of  his  life, 
Benjamin  West  wrote  of  the  tree:  "This  tree,  which 
was  held  in  the  highest  veneration  by  the  original  in- 
habitants of  my  native  country,  by  the  first  settlers,  and 
by  their  descendants,  and  to  which  I  well  remember, 
about  the  year  1755,  when  a  boy,  often  resorting  with 
my  school  fellows,  was  in  some  danger  during  the 
American  War,  when  the  British  possessed  the  country, 
from  parties  sent  out  in  search  of  wood  for  firing;  but 
the  late  General  Simcoe,  who  had  the  command  of  the 
district  where  it  grew  (from  a  regard  for  the  character 
of  William  Penn,  and  the  interest  he  took  in  the  his- 
tory connected  with  the  tree),  ordered  a  guard  of  British 
soldiers  to  protect  it  from  the  axe.  This  circumstance 
the  General  related  to  me,  in  answer  to  my  inquiries, 
after  his  return  to  England." 

Upon  a  Saturday  night  in  March,  in  the  year  18 10, 
the  elm  was  blown  down  in  a  storm,  the  root  being 
wrenched  and  the  trunk  broken  oflF.  Upon  the  follow- 
ing day,  many  hundreds  of  people  visited  the  spot  to 

122 


PIONEERS  OF  AMERICA 

look  upon  it.  The  tree  is  described  as  having  been  re- 
markably wide  spread,  but  not  lofty,  its  main  branches 
which  inclined  toward  the  river  measuring  150  feet  in 
length,  its  girth  24  feet  and  its  age,  as  counted  by  the 
circles  of  annual  growth,  283  years.  Many  souvenirs 
were  made  from  the  wood,  chairs,  desks,  picture  frames, 
etc.  Its  most  fitting  memorial,  however,  was  a  descend- 
ant of  the  tree  itself,  grown  from  a  stripling,  which 
until  the  year  1841,  flourished  in  the  lawn  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Hospital,  no  doubt  one  of  the  trees  to  be  seen 
in  the  illustration  of  that  institution  which  has  been 
presented  in  a  former  chapter.  A  marble  monument  has 
since  been  erected  near  the  site  of  the  original  elm,  the  in- 
scription upon  its  four  sides  being,  "Treaty  Ground  of 
William  Penn  and  the  Indian  Nations,  1682,  Unbroken 
Faith;  William  Penn,  Born  1644,  Died,  1718;  Placed 
by  the  Penn  Society,  A.  D.  1827,  to  mark  the  site  of  the 
Great  Elm  Tree;  Pennsylvania  Founded,  1 681,  by  Deeds 
of  Peace."  A  commemorative  poem  to  the  Treaty  Elm, 
written  by  a  loyal  Philadelphian  of  history-loving  bent, 
closes  with  these  lines : 

Tho'  Time  has  devoted  our  Tree  to  decay, 
The  sage  lessons  it  witness'd  survive  to  our  day, 
May  our  trustworthy  statesmen,  when  call'd  to  the  helm. 
Ne'er  forget  the  wise  Treaty  held  under  our  Elm. 


123 


CHAPTER  VIII 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

SCARCELY  a  person  in  Europe  or  America  a  cen- 
tury and  more  ago  was  unfamiliar  with  the  fea- 
tures of  George  Washington,  or  unacquainted  with  the 
principles  and  actions  of  his  life.  Therefore,  in  their 
efforts  for  trade  put  forth  by  appealing  to  the  patriotic 
pride  of  the  Americans,  the  potters  could  have  selected 
no  more  popular  subject  of  design  than  the  beloved  fea- 
tures of  "Liberty's  Favorite  Son";  of  him  who  in  the 
hearts  of  loyal  Americans,  as  a  Liverpool  pitcher  af- 
firms, was  "A  Man  without  Example,  a  Patriot  without 
Reproach";  or,  as  an  old  punch-bowl  declares,  "First 
in  War,  First  in  Peace"  and  "First  in  Fame,  First  in 
Virtue." 

The  list  of  pieces  of  pottery  and  porcelain  which  ex- 
hibit the  name  or  portrait  of  Washington  is  longer  than 
that  of  ceramics  bearing  any  other  American  design, 
and  includes  specimens  both  of  the  deep  blue  pottery  of 
Staffordshire  manufacture  and  of  the  black-printed  yel- 
low wares  of  Liverpool.  Numerous  prints  of  his  face, 
some  seemingly  imaginary,  others  copies  of  well-known 
paintings,  are  reproduced;  his  home  at  Mount  Vernon 

124 


MARTHA  WASHINGTON  STATES'  PLATE 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

is  pictured;  his  monument;  his  tomb  and  funeral  urn; 
the  names  of  the  States  which  he  called  into  being  are 
festooned  with  stars  about  his  portrait ;  the  dates  of  his 
birth  and  death  are  intertwined  with  symbols  of  his  pa- 
triotic warfare  and  with  emblems  of  the  glorious  re- 
ward hereafter,  to  which  his  deeds  entitled  him.  In- 
deed, judging  from  the  number  and  variety  of  Washing- 
ton views,  the  English  potters  took  pleasure  in  honoring 
the  gallant  and  successful  foe  of  their  own  Empire. 

The  first  illustration  is  from  the  sugar  bowl  belong- 
ing to  a  deep  blue  tea-service,  and  presents  Washington 
in  Continental  uniform  standing  upon  the  lawn  of  his 
estate  at  Mount  Vernon,  his  favorite  mount  nearby 
held  by  a  groom.  Upon  a  similarly  shaped  tea-set  of 
Staflfordshire,  Washington  is  presented  upon  the  same 
lawn  with  an  open  scroll,  doubtless  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  in  his  hand,  the  columned  veranda  of  the 
old  mansion  in  the  background  of  both  sketches  appear- 
ing the  same  as  at  the  present  day.  The  fact  that  the 
features  of  Washington  accompany  the  portraits  erf 
Jefferson,  Clinton  and  Lafayette  upon  specimens  of  ware 
made  to  commemorate  the  opening  of  the  Erie  Canal  is 
judged  by  some  persons  proof  that  the  potters  held  vague 
and  oft-times  incorrect  notions  of  American  affairs,  an- 
other proof  offered  being  "Boston"  and  "Tenasee" 
among  the  number  of  early  States.  But  George  Wash- 
ington was  the  idol  of  young  America,  so  it  would  seem 

125 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

but  natural  to  link  his  memory  with  the  others  upon 
memorials  of  the  nation's  greatest  enterprise. 

Another  Washington  design  which  originated  in  the 
potteries  of  Staffordshire  is  known  as  the  "States"  pat- 
tern, and  from  the  number  of  important  circumstances 
it  records  this  may  be  said,  as  was  remarked  of  the  first 
flag  of  Stars  and  Stripes,  "to  embody  a  whole  national 
history."  The  eye  is  attracted  first  to  the  charming  bit 
of  landscape  in  the  center,  set  in  a  graceful  frame  of 
scrolls,  the  beholder  seeming  to  gaze  out  of  a  window 
upon  the  brilliantly  illumined  scene — a  dignified  man- 
sion said  to  represent  the  President's  House  at  Wash- 
ington, with  its  well-kept  lawn  shaded  by  beautiful  trees 
sloping,  as  in  I'Enf ant's  original  plan  of  the  capital  city, 
to  the  shore  of  the  Potomac  River.  Two  figures,  a  man 
and  woman,  stand  upon  the  bank  of  a  stream,  and  a 
small  boat  flying  a  very  large  flag  rests  upon  the  water. 
Supporting  the  frame  upon  the  right  hand  side  and 
gazing  upon  the  scene  it  encircles,  kneels  a  female  figure 
crowned  with  a  many-plumed  head-dress  and  bearing 
aloft  a  Liberty  cap,  the  word  "Independence"  appearing 
upon  the  platform  beneath  her.  At  the  left  stands  blind- 
folded Justice,  the  decoration  of  the  Order  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati upon  her  skirt  being  in  honor  of  George  Wash- 
ington, whose  medallion  portrait  hangs  suspended  from 
her  right  hand.  Flowers  and  fruits  complete  the  de- 
sign, and,  enclosing  all,  a  ribbon  is  festooned,  each  loop 

126 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  FESTOONED  WITH 

NAMES  OP  15  STATES 

(Liverpool  Pitcher) 


THE  STUART  PORTRAIT  OF  WASHINGTON 


SEAL  OF  U.  S.  (FRONT) 
(Liverpool  Pitcher) 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

of  which  bears  the  name  of  one  of  the  fifteen  States  of 
the  Union,  Kentucky  and  Vermont  having  joined  the 
sisterhood  of  the  original  thirteen  at  the  time  the  device 
was  made;  fifteen  stars  mark  the  intervening  spaces  of 
the  festoons. 

An  illustration  from  a  Staffordshire  specimen  which 
is  reproduced  in  the  chapter  upon  Lafayette  presents  a 
fanciful  Tomb  marked  "Washington,"  set  in  a  brilliant 
sunset-lighted  landscape,  and  before  it,  in  an  attitude  of 
sorrow,  reclines  the  figure  of  Washington's  devoted 
French  friend. 

Numerous  are  the  portraits  and  eulogies  of  our  first 
President  which  the  black-printed  yellow  pitchers  and 
punch  bowls  of  Liverpool  manufacture  exhibit,  some  of 
the  portraits  being  fair  likenesses,  others  with  features 
"leaning  all  awry,"  and  suggesting  the  queries :  "What ! 
did  the  Hand  then  of  the  Potter  shake  ?"  or,  "Was  there 
malice  prepense  in  the  heart  of  the  fashioning  artist?" 
At  the  same  time,  the  flattering  sentiment  ascribed  to 
Washington  by  the  English  potters  at  a  period  coinci- 
dent with  extreme  international  bitterness,  and  even  open 
warfare,  are  astonishing  revelations  of  British  methods 
of  securing  trade  with  the  colonies  and  the  infant  States. 
The  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  in  New  York  City 
contains  a  number  of  ceramic  likenesses  of  Washing- 
ton, by  both  artists  and  amateurs  (one  painted  in  China, 
with  almond-shaped  eyes,  hair  in  oriental  mode  and  man- 

127 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

darin  coat!),  the  best  known  being  copies  of  the  Savage, 
Trumbull,  Peale  and  Stuart  portraits;  the  last  named, 
the  Stuart  portrait  with  the  lawn  ruffles  which  is  here 
reproduced,  presenting  the  great  American  as  we  know 
him  best  and  admire  him  most.  An  especially  poor  por- 
trait is  the  next  illustration,  the  face  in  profile,  over 
which  a  cherub  holds  a  wreath  inclosing  the  word 
"Washington."  Justice  and  Liberty  are  on  either  side, 
while  Victory  kneels  before  him  offering  the  laurel 
branch.  A  ribbon  scroll  bears  the  names  of  fifteen 
States  and  shelters  fifteen  stars. 

But — ^was  it  by  reason  of  the  secret,  but  suppressed, 
satisfaction  they  felt  in  the  incident  ? — the  designs  which 
present  Washington  upon  his  monument  or  mounting 
to  heaven  upon  a  shaft  of  light,  in  the  Apotheosis  of 
Glory,  borne  aloft  by  winged  seraphs  and  a  choir  of 
cherub  angels,  reveal  the  fancy  of  the  potter-historians 
full  and  unrestrained.  "Washington  in  Glory"  we  read 
at  the  top  of  one  old  pitcher,  and  at  the  bottom,  "Amer- 
ica in  Tears";  a  dignified  delineation  of  the  national 
hero,  surmounted  with  a  laurel  wreath  and  urn,  adorns 
the  monument,  with  the  dates  of  his  birth  and  death  be- 
neath: "George  Washington,  Born  February  22,  1732, 
Died  December  17,  1799."  Below  the  inscription  is  the 
Coat  of  Arms  of  the  Washington  family — a  shield  bear- 
ing five  bars  in  chief  three  mullets — and  the  crossed 
swords  of  the  dead  warrior.     The  new  Republic,  repre- 

128 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

sented  by  a  female  figure,  leans  in  sorrow  upon  the  base 
of  the  shaft,  while  an  eagle,  also  typifying  America, 
droops  his  wings  and  head  in  symbol  of  the  mourning 
of  a  nation;  abundant  weeping  willows,  without  which 
no  memorial  design  of  the  early  nineteenth  century  was 
complete,  lighted  with  streaming  rays  of  glory  from  on 
high,  form  the  background  for  the  monument.  Upon 
the  front  of  the  pitcher,  under  the  nose,  is  the  design 
of  the  Seal  of  the  United  States,  while  upon  the  reverse, 
Ceres  and  Pomona  stand  at  either  side  of  a  cannon  upon 
which  an  American  eagle  perches  in  attitude  of  pro- 
claiming to  the  world  the  successful  achievement  of 
Washington,  inscribed  as:  "Peace,  Plenty  and  Inde- 
pendence" ;  an  early  design  of  the  national  flag  is  an  in- 
teresting detail  of  the  background  of  this  decoration. 

Another  monument  pitcher  gives  a  crude  drawing  of 
a  shaft  adorned  with  Washington's  bust,  the  line, 
"Washington  in  Glory"  above,  and  below,  "America  in 
Tears,"  accompanied  by  the  historic  dates,  while  a  weep- 
ing figure  and  weeping  willow  again  symbolize  the  na- 
tion's sorrow.  Still  other  Washington  pitchers  record 
such  eulogistic  legends  in  honor  of  him  and  of  the  free- 
dom he  achieved  as,  "First  in  War,  First  in  Peace,  First 
in  Fame,  First  in  Victory,"  "He  is  in  Glory,  America 
in  Tears,"  "His  Excellency  General  Washington," 

"My  love  is  fixed, 
I  cannot  range ; 
129 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK   . 

I  like  my  choice 
Too  well  to  change,'* 

"Patria,"  "May  Columbia  flourish,"  "E  Pluribus 
Unum,"  the  following  lines  to  Liberty : 

**0  Liberty!  thou  goddess 
Heavenly  bright. 
Profuse  of  bliss, 
And  pregnant  with  delight;** 

also,  the  design  of  a  harp  in  the  hands  of  a  soldier  of 
the  United  States,  who  is  standing  before  Liberty,  pre- 
sumably assuring  her,  as  the  legend  states,  that  the  in- 
strument is  "Tun'd  to  Freedom  for  our  Country." 

A  number  of  pottery  devices  associate  the  memory 
of  Washington  with  that  of  previous  or  contemporary 
historical  incidents,  a  pitcher  of  especial  interest,  which 
is  reproduced  and  described  in  a  former  chapter,  bear- 
ing what  is  known  as  the  "Map"  design.  This  decora- 
tion, in  addition  to  its  valuable  map  of  the  United  States, 
assembles,  like  the  "States"  patterns,  several  important 
historical  records,  for  example — Washington  and 
Franklin  are  examining  the  territory  their  judgment  and 
deeds  did  so  much  to  acquire;  Liberty,  the  goddess  of 
their  inspiration,  stands  by  Washington's  side;  while 
History,  the  muse  who  will  record  their  acts,  looks  down 
upon  Franklin,  Fame  sounding  a  trumpet  on  high  and 
holding  aloft  a  wreath  inscribed,  "Washington."  A 
very  clear  representation  of  the  pine-tree  flag,  one  of 

130 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

Scroll  in  Hand 

{Wood) 


"HONOR   THE  BRAVE"— "THE  UNION,  IT 
MUST  AND  SHALL  BE  PRESERVED" 

(Pitcher  in  the  Dickins  Collection,  National  Museum, 
Washington,  D.  C.) 


EMBLEMS  OF  SUCCESS  OF  REVOLUTIONARY 
ARMS 
(Liverpool  Pitcher) 


WASmXGTON  MONUMENT 
(Liverpool  Pitcher) 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

the  earliest  emblems  of  the  Colonies  (the  significance  of 
which  is  explained  in  a  subsequent  chapter)  forms  an 
especially  valuable  part  of  the  Map  device.  Another 
Washington  pitcher  exhibits,  on  the  reverse  side,  a  fe- 
male figure  holding  the  American  flag  and  facing  two 
Indians,  while  in  the  background  are  several  would-be 
portraits  labeled,  "Raleigh,  Columbus,  Franklin,  Wash- 
ington," together  with  the  legend,  "An  Emblem  of 
America." 

A  pitcher  marked,  "Proscribed  Patriots,"  presents  the 
portraits  of  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Hancock,  the  fiery- 
Boston  leaders  of  Revolutionary  times,  side  by  side  in 
a  medallion,  surrounded  with  the  following  inscription, 
"In  Memory  of  Washington  and  the  Proscribed  Patriots 
of  America.  Liberty,  Virtue,  Peace,  Justice,  and 
Equity  to  All  Mankind."  Below  is  the  patriotic  coup- 
let, 

Columbia's  Sons  Inspired  by  Freedom's  Flame, 

Live  in  the  Annals  of  Immortal  Fame. 

Upon  the  upper  part  of  the  device  may  be  read,  "Sacred 
to  the  Memory  of  G.  Washington,  who  Emancipated 
America  from  Slavery  and  Founded  a  Republic  upon 
such  Just  and  Equitable  Principles  that  it  will,"  etc. 
Upon  another  Liverpool  jug,  a  soldier  of  the  new  nation 
is  seen  standing  with  his  foot  on  the  head  of  a  British 
Lion,  while  below  is  his  explanation  of  the  unwonted 
attitude,  "By  Virtue  and  Valor  we  have  freed  our  Coun- 

131 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

try,  extended  our  Commerce,  and  laid  the  foundation 
of  a  Great  Empire" — strange  words  to  put  into  the 
mouth  of  one's  successful  foe ! 

A  large  yellow  punch  bowl  in  possession  of  the  Con- 
necticut Historical  Society  exhibits  Washington  in  full 
uniform  upon  a  battlefield,  mounted  upon  a  spirited 
horse,  with  the  accompanying  inscription:  "His  Ex- 
cellency General  Washington,  Marshal  of  France,  and 
Commander  in  Chief  of  the  North  American  Continen- 
tal Forces."  It  is  recorded  that,  in  order  to  overcome 
a  difficulty  which  arose  over  Washington's  absolute  con- 
trol of  the  united  French  and  patriot  armies  in  America, 
the  Count  de  Rochambeau  being  a  lieutenant-general  of 
France  and  therefore  only  to  be  commanded  by  the  King 
or  Marechal  de  France,  Washington  was  made  a  French 
Marechal,  the  French  officers  at  Yorktown  addressing 
him  as  Monsieur  le  Marechal.  The  reverse  of  the  bowl 
has  the  fur-cap  portrait  of  Benjamin  Franklin  which  is 
shown  in  a  later  chapter,  with  the  legend:  "By  virtue 
and  valor  we  have  freed  our  Country." 

Our  description  of  the  Liverpool  series  of  Washington 
designs  closes  with  the  "Apotheosis,"  in  which  the  great 
American  may  be  seen  ascending  to  Heaven  from  his 
tomb,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  the  saved  in  early 
Italian  frescoes  of  the  Resurrection.  Our  first  President 
is  supported  by  Father  Time,  an  angel  holds  his  hand, 
at  the  same  time  pointing  to  rays  of  glory  which  mark 

132 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

the  path  to  the  upper  regions,  while  charming  winged 
cherubs,  which  would  not  have  disgraced  Raphael's 
hand,  frame  the  top  of  the  device;  upon  the  tomb 
may  be  read,  "Sacred  to  the  Memory  of  Washington  ob 
17  December,  A.  D.  1799,  ae  68."  A  fitting  epitome  of 
the  fulsome  praise  accorded  by  the  English  potters  to  the 
memory  of  the  great  American  is  recorded  in  the  oft- 
found  expressions,  "Peace  and  Prosperity  to  America," 
"America!  Whose  militia  is  better  than  standing 
armies,"  as  well  as  in  the  alarming  portent :  "Deafness 
to  the  ear  that  will  patiently  hear,  and  dumbness  to  the 
tongue  that  will  utter  a  calumny  against  the  immortal 
Washington !" 

In  addition  to  tableware,  a  variety  of  busts,  statuettes 
and  medallions  of  Washington  were  produced  both  in 
England  and  in  France,  made  of  jasper  and  basalt,  some 
of  the  last  being  exquisite  works  of  art  and  intended 
for  use  as  seals.  Mirror  knobs,  or  "Lookeing  Glass 
Nobs,"  as  ante- Revolutionary  advertisements  made  men- 
tion of  them,  were  much  in  evidence  supporting  the 
heavy  mirrors  in  old-time  Colonial  homes,  many  of  them 
being  portrait  heads  of  Washington  in  a  cocked  hat,  or 
of  Franklin  with  bald  head  and  spectacles. 

Several  of  the  presidents  who  followed  Washington 
likewise  figure  in  a  limited  number  of  decorations  turned 
out  from  the  English  potteries.  "John  Adams,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,"  is  found  under  the  portrait 

133 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

of  Washington's  successor  in  office.  A  "Proscribed  Pa- 
triot" pitcher  is  described  by  Mrs.  Earle  in  her  delight- 
ful book,  "China  Collecting  in  America,"  as  bearing, 
among  others,  the  following  inscription,  descriptive  of 
American  policy  at  the  close  of  the  Revolution :  "Peace, 
Commerce  and  Honest  Friendship  with  all  Nations,  En- 
tangling Alliance  with  none.  Jefferson.  Anno  Do- 
mini 1804;"  while  upon  another  pitcher  appear  these 
stanzas  to  Jefferson : 

"Sound,  Sound  the  trump  of  Fame, 
Let  Jefferson's  great  name 
Ring  through  the  world  with  loud  applause 
As  the  firm  friend  of  Freedom's  cause. 
Let  every  clime  to  freedom  dear 
Now  listen  with  a  joy  full  ear. 
With  honest  pride  and  manly  grace 
He  fills  the  Presidential  place. 

"The  Constitution  for  his  guide, 
And  Truth  and  Justice  by  his  side, 
When  hope  was  sinking  in  dismay, 
When  gloom  obscured  Columbia's  day, 
He  mourn'd  his  country's  threaten'd  fate 
And  saved  it  ere  it  was  too  late." 

Portraits  of  Jefferson  also  accompany  those  of  Wash- 
ington, Clinton  and  Lafayette  upon  the  pottery  designed 
to  celebrate  the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal.  Presi- 
dent Madison,  the  War  President  of  181 2,  appears  upon 
one  of  a  series  of  Liverpool  pitchers  illustrating  that  last 
armed  conflict  with  Great  Britain,  while  "Major  Gen- 

134 


WASHINGTON  ON  ERIE  CANAL  DISH 
(Other  views  of  this  specimen  may  be  found  in  Chapter  XIV) 
{Stevenson) 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  ON  THE  LAWN  IN  FRONT  OF 
THE  MANSION  AT  MOUNT  VERNON 
{Unknown  Maker) 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

eral  Andrew  Jackson,"  who  fought  and  won  the  final 
battle  of  the  War  of  1812,  and  later  on  became  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  was  not  overlooked  by  the 
English  artists,  a  globose  pitcher  preserving  a  print  of 
his  features.  About  the  year  1840,  John  Tarns,  a  potter 
at  Longton,  turned  out  two  souvenir  designs,  one  of  them 
in  honor  of  General  W.  H.  Harrison,  the  other,  of  Henry 
Clay.  Both  are  portraits,  the  first  accompanied  with 
symbols  of  warfare  and  the  words,  "Hero  of  the 
Thames,  1813;"  the  second,  with  the  legend,  "Star  of 
the  West."  The  log-cabin  campaign  of  1840,  which 
placed  the  western  hero  in  the  presidential  chair,  like- 
wise furnished  decorations  for  the  potters,  a  log  cabin 
with  its  barrel  of  cider  by  the  open  door,  and  portraits 
of  Harrison,  being  printed  upon  punch  bowls  and  pitch- 
ers. 

American  industries  were  likewise  noted  and  made 
subject  for  decoration,  the  Salem,  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society  preserving  a  punch  bowl  of  Liverpool 
make  which  bears  the  date  1800,  together  with  two  prints 
representing  scenes  of  timber-rolling  and  ship-building, 
intended  no  doubt  to  commemorate  the  important  Co- 
lonial industry  of  that  town.  Below  the  prints  are  the 
lines : 

"Our  mountains  are  covered  with  Imperial  Oak 
Whose  Roots  like  our  Liberties  Ages  have  nourish'd ; 
But  long  ere  our  Nation  submits  to  the  Yoke 
Not  a  Tree  shall  be  left  on  the  Field  where  it  flourish'd. 

135 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

"Should  Invasion  impend,  Every  Tree  would  Descend 
From  the  Hilltops  they  shaded  Our  Shores  to  defend ; 
For  Ne'er  shall  the  Sons  of  Columbia  be  Slaves 
While  the  Earth  bears  a  plant,  or  the  Sea  rolles  its  waves." 

Brave  words!  which  imply  not  only  knowledge  of  the 
spirit  that  imbued  the  colonists,  but  acquaintance  as  well 
'  with  the  physical  conditions  of  the  American  wilderness. 

George  Washington  was  fond  of  having  china  in  his 
home,  and,  after  the  close  of  the  War,  imported  ware, 
much  of  it  gifts  to  himself  and  his  wife,  took  the  place 
of  pewter  upon  the  table  at  Mount  Vernon.  The  "Cin- 
cinnati" and  other  sets  which  he  owned  are  described  in 
Supplementary  Chapter  A  of  this  volume. 

A  piece  of  the  "Martha  Washington  States"  set  of 
china  which  was  decorated  for,  and  presented  to,  the 
wife  of  our  first  President  is  here  presented.  A  number 
of  pieces  of  this  famous  set  are  now  in  the  National 
Museum  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington. 
Around  the  rim  of  the  plate  is  a  chain  of  fifteen  links, 
each  link  inclosing  the  name  of  one  of  the  first  fifteen 
States.  In  the  center  is  the  interlaced  monogram  of 
Martha  Washington — "M.  W." — in  a  wreath  of  laurel 
and  olive  leaves,  beneath  it  being  a  ribbon  scroll  upon 
which  is  inscribed  in  clearly  traced  letters,  "Decus  et 
tutamen  ab  illo."  From  the  wreath  spring  rays  of  gold, 
and  what  at  first  glance  appears  to  be  a  stripe  around 
the  extreme  edge  of  the  plate  is  in  reality  a  gold  serpent 
with  its  tail  in  its  mouth — a  symbol  of  eternity. 

136 


2  i 
<  5 


l'^      flj 

I— I     ^ 


o 


c^ 


CHAPTER  IX 

SCENES   OF   THE   REVOLUTIONARY   WAR 

EXHIBITING  the  same  curious  lack  of  patriotism 
in  their  zeal  for  establishing  commercial  relations 
that  inspired  the  reproduction  of  portraits  of  great 
Americans,  the  English  potters  made  use  of  scenes  of 
battle,  surrender  and  memorial  in  that  War  of  the  Revo- 
lution vv^hich  was  of  such  fatal  consequence  to  British 
arms.  Bunker  Hill,  Quebec,  Brooklyn  Heights,  Brandy- 
wine,  the  Treason  at  West  Point,  the  Surrender  at  York- 
town — thrilling  incidents  the  recital  calls  to  mind!  each 
one  being  either  suggested  or  told  in  full  upon  the 
printed  china. 

Very  clearly,  from  the  brilliantly  lighted  and  spirited 
scene  upon  the  surface  of  the  blue  gravy-tray,  may  be 
read  the  familiar  story  of  Bunker  Hill.  At  the  right 
rises  Breed's  Hill  which  the  patriots  determined  to  seize 
from  the  English,  in  the  belief  that  their  cannon  once 
placed  upon  its  summit  would  drive  the  English  out  of 
Boston.  Upon  the  sides  of  the  hill  may  be  traced  the 
breastworks  and  the  rail  fences  banked  with  earth  and 
brushwood  which  they  hurriedly  and  quietly  threw  up 

137 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

in  the  silence  of  the  night,  fearful  that  some  sound  of 
pick  or  shovel  might  arouse  the  enemy  watching  in  the 
ships  of  the  nearby  harbor.  Upon  the  summit  of  the 
hill  is  the  redoubt,  and  at  its  base,  in  three  divisions,  the 
"Thin  Red  Line  of  England"  is  seen  marching  under 
General  Gage  to  attack  the  raw  patriot  troops — "coun- 
try boys,"  General  Gage  derisively  dubbed  them — who 
upon  this  spot  first  measured  strength  with  the  trained 
militia  of  Great  Britain : 

"Why,  if  our  army  had  a  mind  to  sup, 

They  might  have  eat  that  schoolboy  army  up," 

being  at  the  beginning  of  the  struggle  for  independ- 
ence the  popular  British  notion  of  the  American  re- 
cruits. Certain  of  victory,  gay  in  their  white  breeches, 
scarlet  coats  and  cocked  hats,  carrying  shining  muskets, 
the  British  advanced  upon  that  June  day  in  '75,  to  face 
the  schoolboy  army  lying  concealed  behind  the  redoubt, 
the  haystacks,  the  fences  and  the  stone  wall,  patiently 
waiting  for  them  with  such  deadly  fire  that  three  at- 
tempts with  overwhelming  forces  and  ammunition  were 
necessary  to  dislodge  them.  It  was  such  a  costly  vic- 
tory that  General  Gage  in  his  report  to  the  English  Gov- 
ernor wrote:  ".  .  .  the  rebels  are  not  the  despicable 
rabble  too  many  have  supposed  them  to  be;  and  I  find 
it  owing  to  a  military  spirit  encouraged  among  them 
for  a  few  years  past,  joined  with  an  uncommon  degree 

138 


BATTLE  OF  BUNKER  HILL 
(/?.  Stevenson) 


SURRENDER  AT  YORKTOWN 

The  reverse  of  this  specimen  is  shown  in  Chapter  XIII 

(Copper  Luster  Pitcher) 


BUNKER  HILL  JvIONUMENT 
{Jackson) 


GILPIN'S  MILLS  ON  THE  BRANDYWINE  RIVER,  NEAR 

BATTLEFIELD 

{Wood) 


SCENES  OF  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR 

of  zeal  and  enthusiasm,  that  they  are  otherwise."  In 
the  background  of  the  illustration,  beyond  the  hill,  the 
vessels  in  the  harbor  may  be  faintly  discerned,  and  the 
flames  of  burning  Charlestown,  and,  farther  away  still, 
the  spires  and  roof-tops  of  Boston — vessel-rigging, 
spires  and  roof-tops,  we  read,  all  crowded  upon  that  day 
with  anxious  spectators  of  the  opening  tragedy  of  the 
War  of  the  Revolution. 

Although  the  scene  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  re- 
cords a  British  victory,  the  illustration  of  Bunker  Hill 
Monument,  which  50  years  later  was  erected  upon  the 
site  of  the  battle,  is  a  memorial  of  the  final  triumph  of 
the  patriot  cause.  General  Lafayette,  as  a  later  chapter 
records,  was  present  upon  the  occasion  of  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  monument,  and,  as  one  of  the  survivors  of 
the  War,  he  was  the  hero  of  the  day.  Upon  Bunker  Hill 
the  patriots  lost  their  brave  leader.  General  Warren,  and 
the  autumn  of  the  same  year  witnessed  the  death  of  an- 
other officer,  General  Montgomery,  as  he  was  making 
an  attack  upon  Quebec,  he  and  Arnold  having  heroically 
led  a  company  of  soldiers  across  the  country  and  into 
Canada.  Imaginary  death  and  battle  scenes  in  which' 
these  officers  figure  were  printed  as  memorials  upon 
Liverpool  pitchers,  one  being  inscribed,  "The  Death  of 
Warren,"  and  the  other,  "The  Death  of  Montgomery." 
A  large  punch  bowl  in  the  Museum  of  Gloucester,  Massa- 
chusetts, links  their  memories  in  the  following  lines, 

139 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

"As  he  fills  your  rich  glebs  (glass) 

The  old  peasant  shall  tell, 

While  his  bosom  with  liberty  glow. 

How  Warren  expired, 

How  Montgomery  fell, 

And  how  Washington  humbled  your  foe." 

The  view  of  New  York  City  from  Brooklyn  Heights, 
which  may  be  found  illustrated  in  a  previous  chapter, 
calls  to  mind  an  important  episode  of  the  Revolutionary 
War  which  took  place  in  the  summer  of  1776,  a  short 
time  after  the  colonies  had  declared  their  independence 
of  British  rule.  It  was  upon  those  wooded  heights  that 
Washington's  army  vainly  attempted  to  oppose  the  en- 
trance of  the  British  forces  under  General  Howe  into 
New  York  City.  In  small  vessels,  such  as  those  pictured 
floating  in  the  harbor,  Washington  in  the  very  face  of 
the  enemy  took  his  army  across  the  bay  on  a  moonlight 
night,  and  entered  the  city  just  as  Lord  Howe  and  his 
troops  were  seen  to  occupy  their  former  position  on  the 
heights  of  the  Brooklyn  side  of  the  harbor.  Then, 
northward  to  the  heights  of  Harlem  and  farther  still  to 
the  country  about  White  Plains  the  patriot  army 
marched,  leaving  the  English  officers  and  soldiers  to 
settle  themselves  for  a  comfortable  winter  in  New  York. 

The  attractive  country  scene,  white  mill  buildings  and 
drooping  trees  mirrored  in  the  quiet  Brandywine  stream 
— a  design  of  Enoch  Wood,  known  by  the  border  of 
shells  and  mosses — was  found  not  far  from  the  spot 

140 


SCENES  OF  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR 

where,  in  the  year  1777,  was  fought  the  historic  battle 
which  stained  the  still  water  with  patriot  blood.  Wash- 
ington's army  was  drawn  up  along  the  bank  of  the 
Brandywine  engaged  with  a  portion  of  the  British  forces, 
when  of  a  sudden  Howe  and  Cornwallis  appeared  upon 
the  right  flank,  having  led  their  main  army  far  up 
stream,  crossed  it,  and  come  down  with  such  force  upon 
Washington's  army  that  Lord  Howe's  plans  of  spending 
another  comfortable  winter  in  America,  this  time  in  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  were  assured;  the  gayety  of  the 
English  officers  that  winter  in  the  city  contrasting 
strongly  with  the  privations  and  sufferings  of  the  patriot 
army  at  Valley  Forge.  The  paper  mill  in  the  illustra- 
tion stood  on  the  farm  of  Gideon  Gilpin,  to  whose  home 
Lafayette  was  carried  wounded  from  the  field  of  Brandy- 
wine.  It  is  recorded  that  in  this  mill  the  first  machine 
to  take  the  place  of  hand  labor  in  the  making  of  paper 
was  introduced. 

The  same  autumn  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  took 
place  at  Saratoga,  a  victory  for  the  patriots  which  proved 
to  be  the  decisive  turning  point  in  the  war,  as  it  brought 
France  officially  to  the  side  of  the  colonies — an  alliance 
commemorated  in  the  field  of  ceramics  by  an  exquisite 
porcelain  statuette  of  Louis  XVI  and  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, which  is  presented  and  described  in  the  chapter  upon 
Benjamin  Franklin.  After  a  disastrous  defeat  at  Bemis 
Heights,  General  Burgoyne  had  retreated  to  Saratoga, 

141 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

where  he  was  followed  and  surrounded  by  a  superior 
army  under  General  Gates,  and,  finding  himself  in  a  hos- 
tile and  wilderness  country  far  from  his  base  of  supplies, 
there  riemained  nothing  for  him  but  surrender. 

Then  occurred  the  great  Treason  of  the  War,  the  at- 
tempt of  its  commanding  officer,  Benedict  Arnold,  to  de- 
liver to  the  enemy  West  Point,  the  key  to  the  line  of  forts 
situated  along  the  Hudson  River,  and  thus  to  end  for- 
ever the  chances  of  independence  for  the  colonies.  The 
excellent  view  of  the  old  fortress  presents  it  as  it  ap- 
peared not  many  years  after  1780,  when  Arnold  had 
command — low  stone  buildings  forming  a  line  along  the 
ridge  of  the  mountain,  taller  hills  rising  beyond,  and  the 
Hudson  flowing  below.  Upon  the  river  bank  may  be 
distinguished  the  very  spot  where,  in  the  darkness  of  a 
September  night,  Major  Andre  came  ashore,  met  the 
traitor  by  appointment,  and  received  from  him  the  in- 
criminating papers  which  later  on  were  found  upon  him 
as  he  was  attempting  to  pass  to  the  English  lines ;  their 
evidence  sending  the  spy  to  his  death,  and  Arnold  to  a 
more  congenial  home  in  England. 

Again,  one  marvels  at  the  nineteenth  century  English 
artists'  lack  of  patriotic  sensibility  as  he  examines  the 
evidence  upon  the  jug  of  glowing  luster  which  portrays 
the  final  scene  of  humiliation  to  British  arms — the  sur- 
render of  the  sword  of  Charles,  Earl  Cornwallis,  at 
Yorktown  on  October  19,  1781.     This  surrender,  one  of 

142 


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Ph 

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e 

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0) 

w 

H 

SCENES  OF  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR 

the  famous  surrenders  which  History  records,  was  an 
event  of  world  importance,  putting  an  end,  by  its  dis- 
heartening effect  upon  English  opinion,  to  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  and  paving  the  way  to  peace.  In  his  use  of 
military  tactics  which  resulted  in  the  surrender,  Wash- 
ington is  said  to  have  equaled  Napoleon  in  his  famous 
Ulm  campaign.  Marching  his  army  all  the  way  from 
the  Hudson  River  to  Virginia — a  distance  of  400  miles 
— in  twenty-eight  days,  Washington  joined  the  army  un- 
der General  Lafayette  which  had  recently  suffered  de- 
feat at  Cornwallis'  hands,  thus  massing  about  twice  the 
number  of  the  enemy's  forces  who  had  gone  into  York- 
town.  At  once  the  patriot  army  surrounded  the  city, 
for  three  weeks  laid  siege  to  it,  until  at  last,  the  looked- 
for  reinforcements  not  being  able  to  reach  Cornwallis, 
the  English  surrendered — soldiers,  seamen,  cannon, 
muskets,  ammunition,  supplies  and  clothing,  besides  fri- 
gates and  transports ;  the  army,  it  is  recorded  marching 
out  to  the  humiliating  notes  of  the  old  English  tune, 
"The  World  Turned  Upside  Down."  In  the  illustra- 
tion, two  groups  of  officers  appear  face  to  face,  Wash- 
ington and  Lafayette  at  the  head  of  the  patriots,  Wash- 
ington receiving  the  sword  from  the  hand  of  General 
O'Hara,  as  Lord  Cornwallis  refused  to  be  present  and 
take  his  part  in  the  scene  of  humiliation.  Old  records 
say  that  at  the  time  of  the  surrender  the  band  struck 
up  "Yankee  Doodle,"  so  angering  the  British  soldiers 

143 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

that,  as  they  laid  down  their  swords  they  broke  them  in 
pieces.  The  reverse  of  the  jug,  which  is  reproduced  in 
another  chapter,  bears  a  medallion  portrait  of  General 
Lafayette,  crowned  with  laurel. 

During  the  night  following  the  eventful  scene  re- 
corded upon  the  luster  pitcher,  a  messenger  rode  out 
from  the  city  of  Yorktown  bearing  the  stirring  news  of 
surrender.  At  sunrise,  he  reached  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia— and  not  many  minutes  thereafter,  a  German 
watchman  on  his  rounds  of  the  quiet  streets  might  have 
been  heard  calling  to  the  sleeping  citizens :  "Past  three 
o'clock — and  Lord  Cornwallis  is  taken !" 

With  the  assurance  of  independence  came  the  estab- 
lishment throughout  the  Union  of  a  number  of  com- 
panies of  militia,  one  of  them,  known  as  the  Boston 
Fusileers,  becoming  of  such  widespread  fame  as  to  be 
noticed  by  the  English  potters,  who  printed  a  reproduc- 
tion of  one  of  its  members  upon  a  set  of  commemorative 
pitchers.  There  he  stands  arrayed  in  the  uniform  of 
his  company,  a  flag  of  Massachusetts  in  his  hand,  while 
above  his  head  is  the  motto,  presumably  of  the  Order, 
"Aut  Vincere  aut  Mori" ;  below  may  be  read  the  inscrip- 
tion, "Success  to  the  Independent  Fusileer,  Incorpo- 
rated July  4,  1789,  America  Forever."  The  reverse  of 
the  pitcher  presents  Liberty,  Justice  and  Peace,  and  the 
motto,  "United  We  Stand,  Divided  We  Fall,"  together 
with  other  figures  emblematic  of  Agriculture,  Trade  and 

144 


SCENES  OF  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR 

Commerce — the  design  as  a  whole  typifying  the  happy 
results  which  were  achieved  by  the  long  struggle  for  in- 
dependence in  the  great  War  of  the  Revolution  under  the 
leadership  of  General  Washington. 


'45 


I 


CHAPTER  X 

EMBLEMS   OF  THE   NEW    REPUBLIC   AND   STATES 

N     the  decoration  of  a  number  of  Staffordshire 


pieces,  either  in  the  border  or  as  a  detail  of  the  de- 
sign it  frames,  is  the  figure  of  an  eagle.  Oft-times  a 
flag,  bearing  stars  and  stripes  numbering  either  thirteen 
or  fifteen,  flutters  from  a  vessel's  mast,  frames  a  hero's 
portrait  or  drapes  his  tomb;  and  a  rare  and  valuable 
series  of  plates  illustrate  the  Arms  of  the  original  thir- 
teen States. 

Emblems  have  always  played  an  interesting  part  in 
the  history  of  nations.  It  may  be  recalled  how  in  an- 
cient times  the  Roman  legions  marched  to  conquest  un- 
der eagle-adorned  banners,  how  wars  were  waged  for 
the  red  and  the  white  roses,  and  how  the  Turk  fought 
always  under  the  figure  of  the  crescent.  Familiar  to- 
day, among  the  many  devices  of  kingdoms  and  of  em- 
pires, are  the  lilies  of  France,  the  lion  and  crosses  of 
England,  the  eagles  of  Germany  and  of  Austria.  Many 
and  varied,  too,  were  the  emblems  which  in  the  course  of 
the  centuries  floated  over  the  land  of  America.  Pre- 
vious illustrations  have  shown  Columbus  bringing  the 
banner  of  Spain,  and  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  the  colors  of 

146 


ARMS  OF  NEW  JERSEY 

(Mayer) 


ARMS  OF  PEXXSYLVANIA 
{Mayer  ) 


EMBLEMS  OF  THE  NEW  REPUBLIC 

England ;  Canada  long  flew  the  lilies  of  France ;  and  the 
old  fort  on  Manhattan,  before  it  spread  to  the  breeze  the 
Stars  and  Stripes,  bore  aloft  first  the  Dutch  and  then  the 
English  ensign. 

During  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  periods,  flags 
of  various  colors  displaying  devices  other  than  the  Eng- 
lish emblem  to  which  the  colonists  owed  allegiance  were 
made  use  of.  The  colors  blue,  red,  and  yellow  and  white 
were  combined  in  patterns  or  stripes,  the  sketch  of  a  pine 
tree  together  with  the  motto  "Liberty"  or  the  legend  "An 
Appeal  to  Heaven"  appeared  upon  several  of  the  flags, 
while  others  bore  the  Liberty-tree  in  the  center  of  the 
field  and  the  words,  "An  Appeal  to  God."  In  one  of  the 
great  historical  mural  paintings  to  be  seen  upon  the  Ro- 
tunda of  the  Capitol  at  Washington  the  Colonial  troops 
are  represented  marching  under  a  red  flag  emblazoned 
with  a  cross  and  a  pine  tree.  Another  Colonial  flag  is 
elsewhere  pictured  flying  an  anchor  and  the  word 
"Hope,"  while  still  others,  the  words  "Liberty  and 
Union."  Upon  the  "Map"  Liverpool  pitcher  which  is 
presented  in  a  previous  chapter  may  be  seen  a  sketch  of 
a  pine  tree  flag.  The  most  popular  device,  however,  to 
be  displayed  upon  Colonial  flags  was  a  rattlesnake  coiled 
and  ready  to  strike,  together  with  the  warning,  "Don't 
Tread  On  Me,"  the  rattles  numbering  thirteen,  the  num- 
ber of  the  colonies,  and,  likewise  typical  of  the  colonies, 
each  rattle  distinct  and  at  the  same  time  joined  to  the 

147 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

others  in  defensive  union.  Upon  one  rattlesnake  flag 
the  tongue  of  the  serpent  was  represented  about  to  strike 
at  the  English  emblems,  the  crosses  of  Saint  George  and 
Saint  Andrew,  while  still  another  banner  flaunted  the 
challenge,  "Liberty  or  Death." 

Previous  to  the  adoption  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  by 
the  new  Republic,  the  emblems  of  the  pine  tree  and  the 
serpent  were  also  intertwined  upon  flags  flown  by  the 
vessels  of  the  American  navy — an  act  of  such  audacity 
that  it  brought  forth  from  an  English  journal  the  follow- 
ing comment:  "A  strange  flag  has  lately  appeared  in 
our  seas,  bearing  a  pine  tree  with  the  portraiture  of  a 
rattle  snake  coiled  up  at  its  roots,  with  these  daring 
words,  'Don't  Tread  on  Me.'  We  learn  that  the 
vessels  bearing  this  flag  have  a  sort  of  commission  from 
a  society  of  people  at  Philadelphia  calling  themselves  the 
Continental  Congress."  From  the  character  of  the  de- 
vices chosen  by  the  colonists  to  represent  them,  it  is. not 
difficult  to  conclude  that  the  decision  to  secure  for  them- 
selves the  blessings  of  Liberty  and  Union  were  present 
in  the  popular  mind  long  before  the  actual  struggle  for 
them  was  undertaken. 

When  the  War  of  the  Revolution  was  at  last  concluded 
and  the  American  people  no  longer  were  required  to  dis- 
play the  hated  British  ensign,  one  of  the  foremost  con- 
siderations of  the  new  Republic  was  to  choose  fitting  em- 
blems with  which  to  signal  its  entrance  into  the  family 

148 


ARMS  OF  RHODE  ISLAND 

{Mayer) 


ARMS  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 
(Mayer) 


ARMS  OF  MARYLAND 
{Mayer) 


ARMS  OF  GEORGIA 
{Mayer) 


EMBLEMS  OF  THE  NEW  REPUBLIC 

of  nations.  And,  as  Staffordshire  potters  were  at  that 
period  manufacturing  tableware  for  the  American 
market,  the  novel  designs  were  naturally  made  use  of 
for  decoration.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  emblems 
were  not  reproduced  in  the  glowing  hues  of  the  originals, 
but  in  blue  alone,  the  favorite  color  then  in  use. 

"O  glorious  flag !    Red,  white  and  blue 
Bright  emblem  of  the  pure  and  true ; 
O  glorious  group  of  clustering  stars ! 
Ye  lines  of  light,  ye  crimson  bars  !'* 

Such  is  the  flag  which,  on  June  14,  1777,  the  Ameri- 
can Congress,  in  adopting  the  following  Resolution: 
"Resolved,  That  the  flag  of  the  thirteen  United  States  be 
thirteen  stripes  alternate  red  and  white;  that  the  union 
be  thirteen  stars,  white  in  a  blue  field,  representing  a  new 
constellation,"  voted  should  proclaim  the  United  States 
of  America. 

Whence  sprang  the  notion  of  the  stars  and  stripes 
which  so  happily  represent  the  Republic  ?  One  historian 
declares  that  the  stripes  were  borrowed  from  the  great- 
coats of  the  Continental  soldiers,  who,  minus  uniforms, 
made  use  of  stripes  to  distinguish  the  different  grades; 
others  affirm  that  the  Dutch  flag,  whose  stripes  sym- 
bolize their  own  union  against  foreign  oppression,  fur- 
nished the  inspiration.  A  more  popular  belief  is,  how- 
ever, that  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  taken  from  the  Coat 
of  Arms  of  George  Washington,  he  who  gave  to  the 

149 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

colonies  the  freedom  of  which  the  emblem  is  now  a  S)rm- 
bol. 

The  flag  of  the  United  States,  a  patriotic  statesman 
declared,  is  "a  whole  national  history."  In  its  thirteen 
stripes  may  be  numbered  the  thirteen  colonies ;  the  colors 
red  and  white  are  tokens  of  that  daring  spirit  and  of  that 
purity  of  motive  which  achieved  the  Union;  and  the 
stars,  thirteen  in  number  upon  the  original  banner,  uni- 
form in  shape  and  size,  typify  the  likeness  of  the  several 
States,  and,  grouped  upon  the  blue  canopy  of  heaven, 
they  represent  the  strength  and  oneness  of  the  young 
Republic.  George  Washington  ordered  the  first  flag 
made,  taking  a  sketch  of  it  to  the  little  upholstery  shop 
of  Mrs.  Ross  in  Philadelphia,  where  for  many  years 
"Betsey"  Ross  continued  its  manufacture. 

The  flag  flying  thirteen  stars  and  thirteen  stripes  was 
in  use  until  the  year  1791,  when  Vermont  and  Kentucky 
joined  the  Union,  and  trouble  arose.  How  were  the  new 
States  to  figure  on  the  flag?  A  new  Act  of  Congress 
was  passed  by  which,  "to  keep  the  citizens  of  those  states 
in  good  humor,"  as  one  statesman  argued,  two  stars  were 
added  to  those  already  on  the  field,  and  the  stripes  were 
increased  to  fifteen.  The  flag  of  fifteen  stars  and  fifteen 
stripes  may  sometimes  be  found  upon  pieces  of  Stafford- 
shire pottery,  a  few  specimens  (the  "Martha  Washing- 
ton States  plate"  and  the  "States"  platter,  for  example) 
naming  the  fifteen  States  of  the  Union,  Vermont  and 

150 


EMBLEMS  OF  THE  NEW  REPUBLIC 

Kentucky  being  among  the  number.  After  a  few  years, 
Tennessee,  Ohio,  Louisiana  and  Indiana  came  into  the 
sisterhood  of  the  States,  and  the  subject  of  the  flag  came 
up  anew.  "We  might  go  on  adding  and  altering  the  flag 
for  one  hundred  years  to  come,"  complained  a  weary 
statesman.  It  was  at  the  time  of  this  perplexity  that  the 
present  flag,  exhibiting  thirteen  stripes  alternate  red  and 
white  to  represent  the  original  thirteen  colonies,  one  star 
to  be  added  to  the  field  upon  the  admission  into  the  Union 
of  each  new  State,  was  adopted.  At  the  present  time, 
the  star  spangled  banner  flings  forty-eight  stars  to  the 
breeze. 

The  new-born  Republic  required  a  national  Seal  as 
well  as  a  flag,  and  tentative  designs  for  the  great  Seal  of 
the  United  States  were  submitted  by  Benjamin  Franklin, 
John  Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson.  Franklin  went  to 
the  Bible  for  his  inspiration  and  proposed  Moses  lifting 
his  wand  and  dividing  the  Red  Sea,  Pharaoh  and  his 
chariot  being  overwhelmed  by  the  waters.  Adams  fav- 
ored a  classical  subject — Hercules  resting  upon  his 
club  after  his  labors  (no  doubt  of  forming  the  Union) 
were  ended.  Jefferson  suggested  that  the  children  of 
Israel  in  the  Wilderness  might  aptly  represent  the  new 
nation  in  the  wilderness  of  the  West,  adding  to  his  de- 
sign the  motto,  "E  Pluribus  Unum."  Chosen  commit- 
tees proposed  Liberty  (a  female  figure)  with  stars  and 
stripes,  warriors,  etc.     The  Seal  finally  adopted  by  Con- 

151 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

gress,  however — an  American,  or  bald-headed  eagle 
upon  whose  breast  an  escutcheon  bearing  the  Stars  and 
Stripes  of  the  flag  is  displayed — is  quite  unlike  any  of 
the  proffered  suggestions.  One  of  the  eagle's  talons 
holds  an  olive  branch,  while  the  other  grasps  a  bundle 
composed  of  thirteen  arrows,  branch  and  arrows  denot- 
ing peace  and  war.  A  scroll  inscribed  E  Pluribus  Unum, 
meaning  one  government  of  many  parts  or  states,  floats 
from  the  eagle's  beak,  and  thirteen  stars  appear  in  the 
crest.  No  figures  are  pictured  at  the  sides  of  the  device 
in  the  position  of  supporters,  it  having  been  no  doubt 
deemed  out  of  place  for  a  nation  choosing  to  be  repre- 
sented by  that  powerful  bird  to  require  any  support 
other  than  its  own  native  strength. 

Several  adaptations  of  the  design  of  the  Seal  of  the 
United  States  may  be  found  in  the  illustrations.  It 
would  appear  that  the  English  designers  oft-times  took 
liberties  with  the  new  emblem,  for  the  American  eagle 
may  be  found  perched  upon  the  shield  with  the  arrows 
and  motto  underneath  him,  or,  with  the  shield  used  as  a 
background  for  the  decoration;  in  one  design,  entitled 
simply  "America,"  the  national  bird  is  figured  erect  upon 
a  globe,  the  shield  upon  his  breast,  and  the  arrows  and 
olive  branch  in  his  talons.  His  attitude,  wings  raised 
and  beak  open  as  if  in  angry  dispute  over  his  right  to 
the  portion  of  the  globe  he  stands  upon,  may  possibly  be 
a  sly  joke  of  the  English  artist.    A  more  exact  copy  of 

152 


ARMS  OF  CONNECTICUT 
(Mayer) 


ARMS  OF  NEW  YORK 
(Mayer) 


ARMS  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA 
(Mayer) 


ARMS  OF  VIRGINIA 
{Mayer) 


EMBLEMS  OF  THE  NEW  REPUBLIC 

the  great  Seal  may  be  seen  upon  the  front  of  a  Liverpool 
jug  in  a  previous  chapter,  displaying  "Washington  in 
Glory." 

A  series  of  decorations  reproducing  the  Arms  of  the 
States  were  printed  by  T.  Mayer  of  Stoke-upon-Trent, 
and,  framed  in  an  attractive  border  of  trumpet-flower 
sprays,  surviving  specimens  are  among  the  most  highly 
prized  pieces  of  old  Staffordshire.  One  device,  the 
Arms  of  New  Hampshire,  has  never  been  found,  search 
in  this  country  and  in  England  thus  far  failing  to  bring 
a  specimen  to  light.  It  is  believed  to  have  been  printed 
along  with  the  others,  all  pieces  of  it,  however,  having 
been  destroyed.  In  the  "Arms"  devices  the  emblems  of 
Justice  and  Independence  and  the  colors  red,  white  and 
blue  were  frequently  made  use  of,  the  States  evidently 
wishing  to  embody  in  their  individual  Seals  emblems  of 
the  principles  for  which  the  entire  nation  stood.  A  num- 
ber of  the  States  likewise  incorporated  symbols  of  their 
own  particular  life  and  activities. 

As  early  as  the  year  1647,  the  colony  of  Rhode  Island 
provided  that  the  "Scale  of  the  Province  shall  be  an 
ancker."  Later  on,  the  word  Hope  was  added,  and 
the  design  encircled  with  a  scroll,  the  color  of  the  anchor 
and  motto  being  blue,  the  scroll  red  and  field  white. 
The  emblem  was  no  doubt  adopted  as  a  symbol  of  the 
freedom,  both  civil  and  religious,  in  which  the  faith  of 

153 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

the  early  settlers  of  Rhode  Island,  supported  by  the  spirit 
of  Hope,  was  so  firmy  anchored. 

The  first  Seal  of  the  colony  of  Maryland,  still  in  use, 
bears  the  Arms  of  her  founder.  Lord  Baltimore.  The 
design  which  the  potters  made  use  of,  however,  is  a 
copy  of  the  seal  which  was  adopted  in  the  year  1794  and 
displayed  for  a  period  of  twenty-three  years  only.  In 
a  blaze  of  light  stands  a  female  figure  of  Justice  hold- 
ing aloft  the  scales  of  her  office  in  one  hand,  while  the 
other  grasps  an  olive  branch.  The  horn  of  plenty  at 
the  base  of  the  design  symbolized  the  fertility  of  Mary- 
land's soil,  and  the  ship  at  sea  her  extensive  commerce. 

The  device  of  the  Seal  of  Georgia  adopted  in  the  year 
1798,  is  composed  of  three  columns  typifying  Wisdom, 
Justice  and  Moderation — virtues  which  support  the  arch 
of  the  Constitution  and  uphold  the  laws  of  the  young  Re- 
public. By  the  side  of  one  of  the  columns  stands  a  man 
with  drawn  sword — mute  proclamation  that  the  army  of 
Georgia  is  ever  ready  to  defend  the  Constitution  of  the 
Union. 

Connecticut  adopted  as  her  Seal  three  grapevines 
laden  with  fruit,  upon  a  white  field,  together  with  the 
motto.  Qui  transtulit  sustinet.  The  design  was  selected 
as  a  memorial  of  the  three  plantations  of  Hartford, 
Windsor  and  Weathersfield  which  formed  the  original 
colony,  and,  as  the  motto  explains,  it  was  a  witness  of  the 
pious  faith  of  the  settlers  of  Connecticut  in  the  divine 

154 


ADAPTATION  OF  THE  SEAL  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


ADAPTATION  OF  SEAL  OF  UNITED  STATES 

"America" 

{J.  F.  &f  Co.) 


EMBLEMS  OF  THE  NEW  REPUBLIC 

assurance  that  "He  who  transplanted  the  vines  was  able 
also  to  sustain  them." 

North  Carolina's  emblems  are  the  Goddess  of  Liberty 
and  the  Greek  goddess  of  the  harvest,  Ceres — symbols 
of  North  Carolina's  faithfulness  to  the  Constitution  and 
of  the  natural  productiveness  of  her  soil.  Liberty  bears 
a  wand  topped  with  a  liberty  cap,  while  in  her  lap  lies 
the  scroll  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Stand- 
ing by  her  side,  Ceres  holds  in  one  hand  three  ears  of 
corn  and  in  the  other  a  cornucopia,  or  horn  of  plenty, 
overflowing  with  the  fruits  and  flowers  in  which  the 
State  abounds. 

South  Carolina  also  chose  an  emblem  typical  of  her 
soil — a  single  palmetto  tree.  From  its  branches  hang 
two  shields  and  at  its  root  are  ten  spears ;  if  to  their  total 
the  tree  itself  is  added,  the  result  is  the  number  thirteen. 
An  English  oak  tree,  pictured  with  roots  above  ground 
and  branches  lopped,  lies  at  the  foot  of  the  palmetto — 
the  power  of  England  broken  by  the  vigor  of  the  young 
republic,  the  lopped  branches  signifying  that  the  Ameri- 
can colonies  have  deserted  the  parent  stalk. 

Pennsylvania's  Arms  embody  three  of  the  State's 
activities:  a  sheaf  of  wheat  for  her  agriculture,  a  plow 
for  her  husbandry  and  a  ship  for  her  commerce.  Over 
all,  forming  the  crest,  a  bald  eagle  grasps  in  his  beak 
a  streamer  bearing  the  words,  Virtue,  Liberty  and  In- 
dependence ;  the  supporters  are  two  horses. 

155 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

The  Arms  of  New  Jersey  are  three  plows  upon  a  white 
shield,  Liberty  and  Ceres  on  either  side  as  supporters 
and  a  horse's  head  the  crest — Industry,  Plenty  and  Inde- 
pendence. 

New  York,  like  Connecticut,  went  to  her  own  beauti- 
ful landscape  for  a  design,  her  Arms  picturing  the  broad 
Hudson  River  flowing  between  level  banks,  two  passing 
vessels,  and,  in  the  distance,  the  sun  setting  behind  the 
Highlands.  Above  the  shield  is  a  globe  surmounted 
with  a  heraldic  eagle:  Liberty  stands  on  one  side,  her 
foot  upon  an  overturned  crown ;  while  on  the  other  side 
blinded  Justice  holds  in  either  hand  a  sword  and  scales — 
tokens  of  deliverance  from  an  oppressive  royal  yoke. 
Below  the  shield  is  Excelsior. 

Massachusetts,  possibly  in  memory  of  her  first  inhabi- 
tants, chose  an  Indian  dressed  in  shirt  and  moccasins  to 
represent  her.  At  one  side  of  the  Indian's  head  is  a 
star,  one  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  the  crest 
is  an  arm  grasping  a  sword.  The  motto,  Ense  petit 
placidam  sub  lihertate  quietani,  is  one  of  the  following 
lines  written  two  centuries  ago  by  Algernon  Sydney  in 
an  album  of  the  Public  Library  of  Copenhagen,  Den- 
mark: 

Manus  haec  inimica  tyrannis, 

Ense  petit  placidam  sub  libertate  quietam. 

The  English  translation  is : 

This  hand,  the  rule  of  tyrants  to  oppose, 
Seeks  with  the  sword  fair  freedom's  soft  repose. 
156 


EMBLEMS  OF  THE  NEW  REPUBLIC 

The  Arms  of  Delaware  recite  the  homely  story  of  her 
agriculture  and  her  commerce — a  blue  shield  divided  by 
a  white  band  into  two  equal  parts,  a  cow  occupying  the 
lower  division,  a  sheaf  of  wheat  and  a  bundle  of  leaf 
tobacco  the  upper ;  a  ship  under  full  sail  forms  the  crest. 
The  supporters  are  a  mariner  and  a  hunter,  beneath 
whose  feet  is  the  motto  Liberty  and  Independence. 

Virtue,  robed  as  an  Amazon,  a  spear  in  one  hand  and 
a  sword  in  the  other,  appears  upon  the  Arms  of  Vir- 
ginia. She  stands  upon  the  form  of  a  prostrate  man 
who  may  be  said  to  represent  Tyranny,  a  crown  having 
fallen  from  his  head,  one  hand  still  grasping  a  scourge 
and  the  other  a  broken  chain.  The  motto.  Sic  Sem- 
per Tyrannis,  So  shall  perish  all  tyrants,  upon  a  scroll 
at  the  foot  of  justice,  gives  voice  to  Virginia's  patriotic 
sentiments. 


157 


CHAPTER  XI 

BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN   AND   HIS   PRECEPTS 

IT  is  a  happy  fact  that  the  memory  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,  such  a  splendid  type  of  the  citizen  of 
Young  America  and  such  a  fond  lover  of  blue  china,  is 
enshrined  among  our  choicest  ceramic  treasures.  His 
well-known  placid  and  kindly  face  looks  out  upon  us 
from  many  a  jug  and  punch  bowl,  and  his  jolly  rotund 
figure  lives  forever  in  medallions  and  statuettes  of 
French  and  English  porcelain. 

"Your  father's  face  is  as  well-known  as  that  of  the 
moon,"  wrote  Franklin  from  France  to  his  daughter  in 
America,  referring  to  the  many  prints  and  medallions  of 
his  face  which  appeared  in  Europe ;  and  almost  as  famil- 
iar to  each  succeeding  generation  of  school  boys  is  the 
interesting  record  of  the  life  of  this  early  American. 
The  story  of  how  the  Boston  printer  boy  spent  his  leisure 
hours  reading  such  books  as  Plutarch's  Lives,  the  Lon- 
don Spectator  and  Xenophon's  Memorable  Things  of 
Socrates,  forming  his  literary  style  therefrom;  how  he 
ran  away  to  Philadelphia,  reaching  that  city  with  but  one 
dollar  in  his  pocket ;  and  how,  by  his  own  industry,  thrift 
and  perseverance,  he  grew  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  men 

158 


STATUETTE— LOUIS  XVI.  AND  FRANKLIN 

TREATY  SCENE 

(French  Porcelain) 

(Front  "  China  Collecting  in  America,"  by  Alice  Morse  Earle; 

copyright,  i8g2,  by  Charles  Scribner's  Sons) 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  AND  HIS  PRECEPTS 

in  history,  is,  like  the  stories  of  Columbus,  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers  and  of  William  Penn,  one  of  the  helpful  ro- 
mances of  America's  early  years. 

Franklin's  home  life  in  Philadelphia  was  plain  and 
simple,  and  for  many  years  he  ate  his  breakfast  of  bread 
and  milk  out  of  an  earthen  porringer  with  a  pewter 
spoon.  "But  mark,"  he  says  "how  luxuries  will  enter 
families  and  make  progress  despite  of  principles;  being 
called  to  breakfast  one  morning,  I  found  it  in  a  china 
bowl,  with  a  spoon  of  silver !  They  had  been  bought  for 
me  without  my  knowledge  by  my  wife,  and  had  cost  her 
the  enormous  sum  of  twenty-three  shillings,  for  which 
she  had  no  other  excuse  or  apology  to  make  but  that  she 
thought  her  husband  deserved  a  silver  spoon  and  china 
bowl  as  well  as  any  of  his  neighbors.  This  was  the  first 
appearance  of  plate  and  china  in  our  house,  which  after- 
ward, in  the  course  of  years  as  our  wealth  increased, 
augmented  gradually  to  several  hundred  pounds  in 
value."  In  this  manner  Franklin  was  introduced  to 
china  tableware,  the  fondness  for  which  grew  with  his 
years  and  with  his  wider  opportunities  for  acquiring 
it. 

We  cannot  dig  deeply  into  the  records  of  any  civic  or 
national  institution  of  America  without  finding  some- 
where near  the  foundation  the  name  of  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin. He  was  interested  in  all  projects  for  the  good  of 
the  colonies,  his  active  mind  putting  into  execution  the 

159 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

best  methods  for  improving  every  condition  of  affairs, 
therefore  in  examining  the  old-china  chronicle  of  illus- 
trations many  phases  of  his  work  are  revealed.  The 
Philadelphia  Library  (as  pictured  in  another  chapter) 
was  a  small  plain  building,  but  within  its  walls  was  first 
sheltered  the  little  collection  of  books  which  Franklin's 
literary  club,  the  Junto,  gathered  for  the  use  of  its  mem- 
bers, the  collection  expanding  into  a  vast  public  Library. 
The  Hospital  Building  (illustrated  in  the  same  chapter) 
which  afterwards  grew  into  the  great  Foundation  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Hospital,  affords  another  glimpse  of 
Franklin's  many-sided  activities. 

Franklin  organized  the  fire  company  and  the  police 
force  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Academy  he  helped  to 
found  is  now  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  Small 
affairs,  as  well  as  great,  claimed  his  thoughtful  atten- 
tion— smoky  fireplaces  gave  place  to  the  Franklin  stoves 
of  our  forefathers,  farmers  were  instructed  in  the  use 
of  fertilizers,  and  sailors  were  taught  the  value  of  oil  to 
still  the  troubled  waves  of  the  sea. 

Franklin's  famous  discoveries  that  the  frightful  thun- 
derbolt of  the  sky  is  but  a  huge  electric  spark,  and  that 
it  can  be  drawn  to  earth  and  made  the  servant  of  man, 
became  a  favorite  subject  of  china  decoration.  Plates 
picture  the  learned  Doctor  Franklin  busily  flying  the 
immortal  kite,  which  added  to  the  sum  of  human  wisdom 
by  destroying  forever  the  superstitious  fear  of  lightning 

i6o 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  AND  HIS  PRECEPTS 

as  a  weapon  in  the  hands  of  an  angry  God.  Sometimes 
the  portrait  of  Franklin  is  accompanied  by  this  legend, 

"Benjamin  Franklin,  Esq.  LL.  D.  and  F.  R.  S.,  the 
brave  defender  of  the  country  against  the  oppression  of 
taxation  without  representation — author  of  the  greatest 
discovery  in  Natural  Philosophy  since  those  of  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  viz.,  that  lightning  is  the  same  with  electric 
fire." 

Franklin  medallions,  printed  with  the  motto  in  Latin : 
"He  snatched  fire  from  Heaven  and  the  scepter  from 
tyrants,"  were  popular  in  France  where  they  sold  in 
large  numbers.  Franklin  strove  to  supply  not  only  the 
physical  necessities  of  the  colonists,  but  he  also  set  him- 
self the  task  of  moral  instructor,  and  his  sermons,  sent 
out  in  his  Almanack  under  the  guise  of  Poor  Richard's 
sayings,  entered  thousands  of  homes  where,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  Bible,  it  was  often  the  only  source  of  help- 
ful influence.  For  twenty-five  years  the  famous  Alma- 
nack was  printed,  the  value  of  its  teachings  being  incal- 
culable. Franklin's  popular  sayings  naturally  made 
their  way  across  the  sea  to  England,  and  the  Stafford- 
shire artists  found  in  them  fresh  pictures  for  the  decora- 
tion of  their  wares,  stamping  drinking  mugs  and  small 
plates  for  children  with  colored  pictures  illustrating 
Franklin's  "Morals,"  "Proverbs"  and  "Maxims." 

"Poor  Richard"  gave  practical  advice  for  every  con- 
dition of  life,  some  of  it  humorous,  some  caustic,  all, 

i6i 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

however,  laden  with  a  salutary  lesson  and  an  intent  to 
do  good  to  some  person,  and  hidden  beneath  the  wise 
saws  we  find  Franklin's  disgust  for  all  shams,  his  cen- 
sure of  evil,  his  firm  stand  for  honest  ideals.  Franklin 
collected  the  sayings  of  Poor  Richard  and  printed  them 
in  narrative  form,  as  if  told  by  Father  Abraham,  an- 
other fictitious  character,  at  an  auction.  The  book  was 
printed  in  England  and  later  was  translated  into  several 
languages.  Poor  Richard  thereby  becoming  as  well 
known  a  personage  as  Mr.  Pickwick  or  Dr.  Syntax. 
The  story  goes  that  at  the  time  Franklin  was  envoy  of 
the  new  Republic  to  the  Court  of  France,  Captain  Paul 
Jones  was  in  Paris,  unsuccessfully  trying  to  obtain  a 
vessel  from  the  French  Court,  and  that  one  day  while 
reading  a  French  translation  of  Poor  Richard's  Alma- 
nack, he  paused  at  the  line,  "If  you  would  have  your 
business  done,  go ;  if  not,  send" ;  without  delay  he  went 
himself  to  Versailles  and  obtained  an  order  for  a  ship. 
In  gratitude  he  named  the  vessel  Le  Bon  Homme  Rich- 
ard, which  means  "Poor  Richard" — and  his  conquest  of 
the  Serapis  is  one  of  the  historic  tales  of  the  sea. 

In  the  illustrations  may  be  found  a  number  of  Frank- 
lin's precepts  which,  set  before  children  on  their  plates  at 
table,  had  a  share  in  forming  the  character  of  Young 
America.  "Success  to  the  Plow,  the  Fleece  and  the 
Pail;  May  the  Landlord  ever  flourish,  and  the  Tenant 
never  fail"  are  homely  sentiments  illustrated  by  a  milk- 

162 


FLOWERS  THAT  NEX-ER  FADE 
"Good  Humour" 


LIVERPOOL  BOWL,  WITH  FUR  CAP  PORTRAIT  OP 

BEN-JAMIN  FRAXKLIN 

{From  "Anglo-American  Pottery";  by  permission  of  Dr.  Edwin  A. 

Barber) 


FRAxNKLIN'S  MORALS 
"  Many  a  little  makes  a  mickle. " 
{Unknown  Maker) 


"No  Gains  without  Pains" 
{Unknown  Maker) 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  AND  HIS  PRECEPTS 

maid,  a  sheep  and  the  implements  of  a  farmer.  An- 
other illustration  teaches  a  lesson  of  skillful  labor, 
"Handle  your  tools  without  gloves;  Remember  the  cat 
in  gloves  catches  nothing."  Again,  a  well  dressed  old 
lady  is  pictured  speaking  to  her  daughter,  who  stands 
near  her  with  a  bunch  of  flowers  in  her  hand,  offering 
this  advice:  "Good  Humor  is  the  greatest  charm  that 
children  can  possess;  It  makes  them  happy,  and  what's 
more,  it  gives  them  power  to  bless."  This  illustration 
is  one  of  a  series  of  pictured  precepts  entitled,  "Flowers 
That  Never  Fade,"  and  is  an  expression  of  one  of  Frank- 
lin's favorite  theories,  one  which  he  himself  was  in  the 
habit  of  practicing — that  good  humor  is  one  of  Nature's 
flowers  of  character  most  powerful  in  its  influence  upon 
men. 

"Keep  thy  shop,  and  thy  shop  will  keep  thee,"  "Dili- 
gence is  the  mother  of  good  luck,"  "He  that  riseth  late 
must  trot  all  day  and  scarce  shall  overtake  his  business 
at  night,"  are  a  few  of  the  saws  with  which  Franklin 
strove  to  drive  home  the  lesson  of  diligent  attention  to 
one's  affairs.  Franklin  was  a  firm  believer  in  improv- 
ing each  moment  of  the  day,  as  the  following  proverbs 
make  plain :  "One  To-day  is  worth  two  To-morrows," 
"Lost  time  is  never  found  again,"  and  the  oft-quoted 
"Early  to  bed  and  early  to  rise  makes  a  man  healthy, 
wealthy  and  wise." 

A  brightly  colored  plate  pictures  within  a  border  of 

163 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

fruits  and  flowers  a  busy  rural  scene — a  farmer  planting 
a  tree,  a  boy  engaged  at  his  task,  and  a  vessel  made  ready 
to  set  sail — intended  to  illustrate  the  terse  motto  printed 
upon  the  back  of  the  plate,  "No  Gains  Without  Pains." 
A  familiar  proverb  of  to-day,  "Constant  dropping  wears 
away  stones,  and  little  strokes  fell  great  oaks,"  belongs 
to  this  group.  In  a  series  of  sayings  classed  under  the 
title  "Poor  Richard's  Way  to  Wealth,"  may  be  found 
these  two :  "What  maintains  one  vice  will  bring  up  two 
children,"  and  "It  is  easier  to  suppress  the  first  desire 
than  to  satisfy  all  that  follow."  They  are  illustrated  by 
pictures  of  two  men  in  a  tavern,  one  of  them  lazily  smok- 
ing his  pipe  and  the  other  raising  a  foaming  glass  of 
liquor  to  his  lips.  Upon  the  wall  of  the  tavern  is  posted 
this  warning:  "Landlord,  Caution,  Pay  To-day  and 
Trust  To-morrow,"  while  in  the  background  of  the  pic- 
ture stand  a  neglected  wife  and  her  two  forlorn  children, 
the  sad  object  lessons  of  evil  habits.  Another  of  the 
"Way  to  Wealth"  series  exhibits  a  portly  prosperous 
farmer  who  has  profited  by  Poor  Richard's  advice  and 
grown  wealthy,  as  his  fat  sheep  and  hog  bear  witness. 
His  aristocratic  neighbor  approaches  on  horseback,  lifts 
his  hat  and  bows  in  respect,  while  below  we  read  the  caus- 
tic lines :  "Now  I  have  a  sheep  and  a  cow.  Everybody 
bids  me  good-morrow."  The  design  on  the  teapot,  two 
farmers  in  a  field,  one  plowing  and  the  other  sowing 

164 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  AND  HIS  PRECEPTS 

seed,  illustrates  the  maxim :  "He  that  by  the  plow  would 
thrive,  himself  must  either  hold  or  drive." 

In  the  year  1757,  Franklin  was  sent  to  London  to 
settle  the  disputes  which  had  arisen  in  the  colony  of 
Pennsylvania  over  taxing  of  the  estates  of  the  Penn 
brothers,  land  which  had  been  bequeathed  to  them  by 
their  father  William  Penn.  While  Franklin  was  in 
England,  the  process  of  transfer  printing  upon  pottery 
was  first  practiced  in  the  potteries  of  Liverpool,  and, 
like  all  new  things,  it  greatly  interested  him,  and  he  tried 
to  induce  the  potters  to  print  a  series  of  chimney  tiles 
with  his  Poor  Richard  sayings,  no  doubt  believing  in 
this  manner  to  bring  his  moral  teachings  more  readily 
before  the  eyes  and  minds  of  the  people  of  the  colonies. 
But  our  forefathers  were  spared  this  novel  method  of 
preaching,  as  the  English  taste  preferred  livelier  scenes 
upon  their  chimney  pieces. 

Franklin  went  again  to  London  for  the  purpose  of  ad- 
justing the  measures  of  taxation,  which  England  had 
imposed  upon  the  American  colonies,  for  ten  years  re- 
maining there  trying  to  prevent  the  enactment  of  those 
laws  of  the  mother  country — the  Stamp  Act,  Duty  on 
Tea  and  Boston  Port  Bill — which  finally  kindled  into 
flame  the  smoldering  fires  of  revolution.  "Depend  upon 
it,"  wrote  Franklin  in  his  practical  way  to  a  friend  in 
America,  "I  took  every  step  in  my  power  to  prevent  the 

165 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

passing  of  the  Stamp  Act.  .  .  .  We  might  as  well  have 
hindered  the  sun's  setting.  That  we  could  not  do.  But 
since  it  is  down,  my  friend,  and  it  may  be  long  before  it 
rises  again,  let  us  make  as  good  a  night  of  it  as  we  can. 
We  can  still  light  candles.  Frugality  and  industry  will 
go  a  great  way  towards  indemnifying  us.  Idleness  and 
pride  tax  with  a  heavier  hand  than  kings  and  parlia- 
ments. If  we  can  get  rid  of  the  former,  we  may  easily 
bear  the  latter." 

As  he  was  leaving  England  for  his  home  in  America, 
Franklin,  in  conversation  with  a  friend,  compared  the 
British  Empire  to  a  beautiful  china  vase  which  if  ever 
broken,  could  never  be  put  together  again.  The  first 
shot  of  the  Battle  of  Lexington  was  fired  while  Frank- 
lin was  on  the  sea,  and  it  was  as  a  conciliator  in  public 
affairs  that  he  took  his  place  in  the  troubled  colonies — 
first,  as  a  member  of  the  Second  Continental  Congress, 
and  later,  as  one  of  the  committee  to  draft  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  When  it  came  his  turn  to  sign 
the  great  document,  Franklin,  in  response  to  Hancock's 
remark,  "We  must  be  unanimous,  there  must  be  no  pull- 
ing different  ways ;  we  must  all  hang  together,"  made  the 
oft-quoted  reply:  "Yes,  we  must,  indeed,  all  hang  to- 
gether, or,  most  assuredly,  we  shall  all  hang  separately." 

A  beautiful  French  statuette  of  pure  white  porcelain 
illustrates  the  distinguished  part  which  Franklin  took  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Revolution,  in  winning  the  recognition 

i66 


FRANKLIN  "BENNINGTON  PITCHER" 
"Toby"   or   "Cider  Jug" 


"He  that  by  the  Plough  would  thrive, 
Himself  must  either  hold  or  drive. " 


FRANKLIN'S    MAXIMS 

''  He  who  lives  upon  Hope    "  Handle  your  tools  with- 

will  die  fasting. "  out  mittens, "  etc. 


"Constant  dropping  wears        "Three  removes  are  as  bad  as  a  fire, 
away  stones,  A  rolling  stone  gathers  no  moss.  " 

And  little  strokes  fall  great 
oaks." 


'  Keep  thy  shop  "  Not  to  oversee  work- 
and  thy  shop  men  is  to  leave  them 
will  keep  thee."        your  purse  open." 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  AND  HIS  PRECEPTS 

of  the  countries  of  Europe  for  the  young  Republic.  He 
crossed  the  sea  for  the  third  time,  now  as  Ambassador 
of  the  infant  RepubHc  of  the  United  States  to  the  French 
Court  of  Louis  XVI  and  the  unfortunate  Marie  An- 
toinette. The  statuette  was  designed  to  commemorate 
the  treaty  of  the  United  States  with  France,  made 
largely  through  Franklin's  influence,  after  the  news  of 
the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  had  opened  the  eyes  of  the 
world  to  the  strength  of  the  American  cause. 

We  are  told  that  upon  the  occasion  of  the  formal 
recognition  of  the  Treaty,  Franklin  intended  to  put  off 
his  plain  dress  and  to  appear  before  the  King  in  Court 
costume,  but  the  costume  did  not  arrive  in  time,  and  the 
wig  which  the  hairdresser  brought  refused  to  sit  upon 
the  Doctor's  head.  Franklin  suggested  that  it  might  be 
too  small.  "Monsieur,  it  is  impossible,"  cried  the  per- 
ruquier,  and  then  dashing  the  wig  to  the  floor,  he  ex- 
claimed, "No,  Monsieur,  it  is  not  the  wig  which  is  too 
small ;  it  is  your  head  which  is  too  large."  In  the  statu- 
ette, Franklin  is  modeled  in  his  simple  republican  dress, 
a  suit  of  striped  silk  which  is  now  in  the  possession 
of  the  Historical  Society  of  Massachusetts,  with  wig- 
less  head,  in  striking  contrast  to  the  King  in  his 
sumptuous  royal  garments.  The  face  of  Franklin  is 
very  fine,  with  much  nobility  and  intelligence  added  to 
the  benignancy  and  sweetness  of  expression  with  which 
his  other  portraits  make  us  familiar.    The  attitudes  of 

167 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

both  King  Louis  and  Franklin  are  full  of  dignity.  Upon 
the  scroll  which  the  King  holds  out  to  his  companion  are 
inscribed  in  golden  letters  the  words  "Independence  de 
TAmerique/'  and  "Liberte  des  Mers."  Indeed,  Frank- 
lin's plain  large  features,  oft-times  topped  with  the  fur 
cap  which  he  loved  to  wear,  were  almost  always  truth- 
fully represented  by  the  French  and  English  potters, 
but  his  sober  garb  must  have  seemed  to  them  scarce 
suited  to  one  of  his  exalted  station,  for  the  gray  gar- 
ments are  sometimes  transformed  in  their  kilns  into 
yellow  waistcoat,  pink  breeches  and  cocked  hat;  in  one 
porcelain  figure  an  ermine  cape  flows  jauntily  from  his 
ample  republican  shoulders! 

While  in  France  at  this  time,  Franklin  enjoyed  the 
greatest  popularity  with  all  classes  of  people.  His  "an- 
tique simplicity  of  dress  and  appearance"  charmed  the 
Court;  his  wide  learning  made  him  the  intimate  of 
scholars;  shopkeepers  ran  to  their  doors  to  look  upon 
this  unique  representative  of  a  new  people  as  he  passed 
down  the  street.  His  picture  was  everywhere  to  be  seen, 
porcelain  medallions  of  his  face  being  plentiful  in  Paris. 
"A  variety  of  other  medallions,"  writes  Franklin  at  this 
time  to  his  daughter,  in  the  letter  already  quoted,  "have 
been  made  since  of  various  sizes;  some  to  be  set  in  the 
lids  of  snuff-boxes,  and  some  so  small  as  to  be  worn  in 
rings ;  and  the  numbers  sold  are  incredible.  These,  with 
the  pictures  and  prints  (of  which  copies  upon  copies  are 

i68 


POOR  RICHARD'S  "WAY  TO  WEALTH"  SERIES 
OF  MAXLMS 
"Now  I  have  a  Sheep  and  a  Cow, 

Everybody  1 ''  V       ■  good  morrow. " 


"What  maintains  one  Vice  would  bring  up 
two  Children. " 
"  It  is  easier  to  suppress  the  first  desire 
than  to  satisfy  all  that  follow." 


POOR  RICHARD'S  MAXIMS 
"  Success  to  the  Plough,  the  Fleece,  and  the  Pail,  "  etc. 


Handle  your  tools  without  gloves — Remember  the 
cat  in  gloves  catches  nothing." 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  AND  HIS  PRECEPTS 

spread  everywhere)  have  made  your  father's  face  as 
well  known  as  that  of  the  moon,  so  that  he  durst  not  do 
anything  that  would  oblige  him  to  run  away,  as  his  phiz 
would  discover  him  wherever  he  should  venture  to  show 
it.  It  is  said  by  learned  etymologists  that  the  name  of 
doll  for  the  image  children  play  with  is  derived  from  the 
word  idol.  From  the  number  of  dolls  now  made  of  him 
he  may  be  truly  said,  in  that  sense,  to  be  idolized  in  this 
country." 

Franklin's  friendship  with  Lafayette  began  at  the  time 
of  this  sojourn  in  France,  through  the  young  French 
officer's  application  to  him  for  a  commission  in  the 
American  army — a  friendship  not  overlooked  by  the  pot- 
ters, for  in  consequence  numerous  Staffordshire  tea, 
breakfast  and  dinner  sets  picture  a  man  in  foreign  dress, 
supposed  to  represent  Lafayette,  seated  before  a  tomb 
inscribed  "Franklin."  An  illustration  of  one  of  these 
designs  is  shown  in  the  chapter  on  Lafayette's  Visit  to 
America.  The  English  potters  also  produced  Franklin 
medallions  and  placques,  Wedgwood  designing  a  blue 
and  white  jasper  medallion  of  Franklin  for  his  series  of 
"Illustrious  Moderns." 

Like  George  Washington,  Franklin  was  fond  of  hav- 
ing blue  china  upon  his  table,  and  while  he  was  in  Lon- 
don he  sent  quantities  of  it  home  to  his  wife,  at  the 
same  time  writing  her  that  letter  which  contains  the 
oft-quoted  lines :     "I  also  forgot  to  mention  among  the 

169 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

china  a  large  fine  jug  for  beer  to  stand  in  the  cooler.  I 
fell  in  love  with  it  at  first  sight ;  for  I  thought  it  looked 
like  a  fat  jolly  dame,  clean  and  tidy,  with  a  neat  blue 
and  white  calico  gown  on,  good-natured  and  lovely,  and 
put  me  in  mind  of — somebody." 

Not  only  did  the  potters  of  France  and  England  im- 
mortalize Franklin  in  their  clay,  but  his  fame  spread  to 
the  Orient,  and  the  artists  of  China  and  Japan  also  pic- 
tured this  strange  representative  of  a  new  world.  The 
result,  no  doubt  intended  for  flattery,  is  for  us  an  occa- 
sion for  smiles,  for  they  have  made  him  one  of  their  own 
almond-eyed  selves  and  have  transformed  his  familiar 
fur  cap  into  a  close  crop  of  woolly  curls!  The  early 
American  potters  of  Bennington,  Vermont,  about  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  likewise  fashioned  in 
clay  the  figure  of  this  great  American,  as  the  Franklin 
cider  jug  or  toby  in  the  rich  browns  of  their  manufacture 
bears  witness. 

The  following  amusing  epitaph,  composed  by  Franklin 
during  his  early  life  as  a  printer  in  Philadelphia,  de- 
serves a  place  in  this  story  of  his  life : 

The   Body 

of 

Benjamin  Franklin 

Printer 

(Like  the  cover  of  an  old  Book 

Its  contents  torn  out 

And  stript  of  its  lettering  and  gilding) 

Lies  here,  food  for  worms. 

170 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  AND  HIS  PRECEPTS 

But  the  work  shall  not  be  lost 

For  it  will  (as  he  believed) 

Appear  once  more 

In  a  new  and  more  elegant  edition 

Revised   and   Corrected 

by 

The  Author. 


171 


CHAPTER  XII 

NAVAL   HEROES   OF   THE   WAR   OF    l8l2 

A  GROUP  of  pitchers,  tall,  yellow  and  melon-shaped, 
record  in  the  illustrations  on  their  sides  stories  of 
the  heroes  and  engagements  of  the  infant  navy  of  the 
Republic.  The  Liverpool  potters,  when  the  new  frigates 
of  the  United  States  began  to  visit  their  harbor,  turned 
their  attention  to  "Sailor  Pitchers,"  decorating  them 
with  pictures  of  British  and  American  sailor  lads  grasp- 
ing hands  in  friendship,  or  with  sketches  of  full-rigged 
vessels  flying  the  American  flag,  and  inscribing  them 
with  appropriate  legends,  such  as:  "May  They  Ever 
Be  United,"  "The  True  Blooded  Yankee,"  "Success  to 
the  Infant  Navy  of  America,"  etc.;  or,  with  jingles  of 
which  the  following  are  typical : 

From  Rocks  and  Sands 
And  every  ill, 
May  God  preserve 
The  Sailor  still. 

No  more  I'll  roam, 
I'll  stay  at  home. 
To  sail  no  more 
From  shore  to  shore ; 
But  with  my  wife 
Lead  a  happy,  peaceful  life. 
172 


BATTLE  OF  LAKE  ERIE 
"Commodore  Perry's  Victory" 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

Lonely  Jack,  strolling  the  streets  of  Liverpool  in  search 
of  a  gift  to  carry  home  to  sweetheart  or  wife  in  some 
far-away  New  England  village,  was  pleased  to  find  the 
attractive  souvenirs  and  gave  his  hard-earned  shillings 
for  them.  One  such  pitcher,  carefully  preserved  since 
that  time,  is  entitled  "The  Sailor's  Return,"  and  pre- 
sents a  young  sailor  husband  come  home  from  the  sea, 
his  happy  wife  beside  him  and  their  infant  in  his  arms ; 
the  lines  underneath  the  sketch  doubtless  are  intended 
to  voice  his  sentiments: 

I  now  the  joys  of  life  renew, 
From  care  and  trouble  free, 
And  find  a  wife  who's  kind  and  true. 
To  drive  life's  cares  away. 

Soon  after  the  differences  between  France  and  the 
United  States,  which  came  to  an  issue  in  the  year  1799, 
had  been  fought  out  in  the  southern  seas,  the  English 
exploited  on  their  pottery  the  congratulatory  legend, 
"Success  to  the  Infant  Navy  of  America."  A  set  of 
Liverpool  pitchers  is  yet  in  existence  which  voice  this 
sentiment  in  a  spirited  print  of  a  naval  engagement  ac- 
companied with  the  explanatory  description:  "LTn- 
surgente  French  Frigate  of  44  guns  and  41 1  men  strik- 
ing her  Colours  to  the  American  Frigate  Constitution, 
Commodore  Truxton,  of  40  guns,  after  an  action  of  an 
hour  and  a  half  in  which  the  former  had  75  men  killed 

173 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

&  wounded  &  the  latter  one  killed  &  three  wounded,  Feb. 
20th.,  1799." 

Commodore  Truxton's  capture  of  both  VInsurgente 
and  La  Vengeance  was  almost  as  keen  a  source  of  de- 
light to  Englishmen  as  it  was  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  the  English  Grovernment  in  honor  of  the  feat 
presenting  the  successful  Commodore  with  many  tokens 
of  esteem,  including  a  service  of  silver  plate — an  expres- 
sion of  generosity  no  doubt  bitterly  regretted  in  the  years 
immediately  following,  when  that  same  "Infant  Navy" 
scored  such  brilliant  "Success"  turned  against  the 
British  battle  fleet. 

The  efforts  of  American  sailors  in  ridding  the  high 
seas  of  the  hated  and  feared  African  pirates  who  were 
levying  tribute  upon  civilized  countries  next  inspired  the 
potters  to  print  portraits  of  Commodores  Bainbridge, 
Decatur  and  Preble.  Looking  upon  their  faces,  what 
stirring  scenes  are  called  to  mind:  how,  in  the  year  1800, 
Bainbridge,  then  a  youth  of  26,  was  sent  by  the  United 
States  Government  with  the  vessel  George  Washington 
to  carry  the  annual  tribute  money  to  the  dey  of  Algiers ; 
how,  when  he  arrived,  the  dey  forced  him  to  play  er- 
rand boy,  hoist  the  Algerian  flag  at  the  main  of  the 
George  Washington  (which  he  promptly  hauled  down 
as  soon  as  he  had  cleared  the  harbor)  and  sail  to  Con- 
stantinople with  gifts  for  the  sultan  of  Turkey,  the 
overlord  of  the  Barbary  States.     To  his  surprise,  Cap- 

174 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

tain  Bainbridge  was  received  by  the  Sultan  with  honor 
as  a  representative  of  a  new  nation,  and  was  presented 
with  a  passport  to  insure  respectful  treatment  in  all  the 
Sultan's  domains.  Armed  with  this  powerful  weapon, 
Bainbridge,  upon  his  return  to  Algiers,  refused  to  enter 
the  harbor  or  to  make  a  second  voyage  for  the  dey,  and 
he  so  frightened  the  Algerian  potentate  into  respect 
that  he  was  even  permitted  to  rescue  and  carry  away 
some  French  exiles  in  the  city — for  which  service  he  re- 
ceived the  thanks  of  Napoleon. 

Captain  Bainbridge's  second  adventure  among  the 
Barbary  Corsairs  was  more  disastrous  than  the  first. 
Before  three  years  had  gone  by,  he  was  again  in  the 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean,  this  time  as  captain  of  the 
Philadelphia,  one  of  a  small  squadron  of  American  fight- 
ing vessels  under  command  of  Captain  Preble  of  the  flag- 
ship Constitution.  In  order  to  overawe  the  insolence 
of  the  pirates,  Preble  sent  Bainbridge  to  blockade  the 
harbor  of  Tripoli.  Sighting  a  vessel  of  the  enemy 
ahead,  Bainbridge  was  giving  chase  in  the  shallow  water 
near  the  coast,  when  suddenly  his  ship  ran  upon  a  hidden 
rock  in  twelve  feet  of  water.  All  efforts  were  made  to 
back  the  Philadelphia  off  the  reef,  even  her  guns  being 
heaved  overboard  and  her  foremast  cut  away.  These 
measures  being  of  no  avail,  and  the  vessels  of  the  enemy 
approaching,  orders  were  given  to  bore  holes  in  the  ship's 
bottom,  drown  the  magazine  and  destroy  everything 

175 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

which  would  be  of  service  to  the  pirates.  Bainbridge 
and  his  men  were  taken  prisoners  and  carried  before  the 
pasha,  and  for  nineteen  months  they  languished  in  the 
dungeons  of  Tripoli.  Two  days  after  the  disaster  the 
Philadelphia  was  floated  by  the  pirates  at  high  tide,  her 
guns  were  raised  and  remounted,  and  she  was  towed,  as 
good  as  ever,  into  the  harbor  of  Tripoli — a  prize  of  im- 
mense value. 

Then  followed  the  thrilling  feat  which  will  ever  be 
associated  with  the  names  of  Decatur  and  Preble.  The 
daring  scheme  was  proposed  to  fire  the  Philadelphia 
lying  at  her  moorings  in  the  harbor,  and  from  among  the 
many  volunteers  for  the  hazardous  task.  Commodore 
Preble  selected  Decatur.  With  a  crew  of  picked  men, 
a  supply  of  combustibles  and  a  Sicilian  pilot  who  knew 
the  waters  of  the  harbor,  Decatur  boarded  a  ketch,  a 
small  vessel  which  had  been  captured  from  the  pirates 
and  renamed  the  Intrepid.  They  waited  outside  until 
evening,  then  quietly  stole  into  the  harbor;  scarcely  a 
man  was  to  be  seen  on  deck,  for  they  wished  to  allay  sus- 
picion of  being  taken  for  a  vessel  of  war,  and  to  all  ap- 
pearance the  little  ketch  was  only  a  pirate  ship  making 
for  port  before  nightfall.  The  watchword  ''Philadel- 
phia" had  been  passed  among  them  so  they  might  be  able 
to  recognize  one  another  should  danger  arise.  A  gentle 
breeze  wafted  them  over  the  smooth  water  towards  the 
huge  bulk  of  the  Philadelphia  lying  at  her  moorings  and 

176 


SAILOR  PITCHER 
"May  They  Ever  be  United' 


SAILOR   i'ii>^iiER 
"The  Sailor's  Return" 


COMMODORE  BAINBRIDGE  PITCHER 
(Liverpool  Type) 
{From  "Anglo-American  Pottery  ";  by  permission  of  Dr.  Edwin  A.  Barber) 


COMMODORE  PERRY 
"Hero  of  the  Lake" 
{From.  "  Anglo-American  Pottery" ;  by  permission 
of  Dr.  Edwin  A .  Barber) 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

sharply  outlined  against  the  white  walls  of  the  city. 
The  men  aboard  the  Philadelphia  spied  the  approaching 
vessel  and  called  out  to  know  her  errand.  The  Intrepid' s 
pilot,  instructed  by  Decatur,  answered  that  they  had  lost 
their  anchors  in  a  gale  and  wished  to  tie  up  to  the  frigate 
until  morning.  Permission  was  given,  a  rope  passed, 
and  the  ketch  made  fast  to  the  Philadelphia,  when  sud- 
denly rang  loud  and  clear  over  the  water  the  cry, 
"Americanos!"  They  were  discovered.  Decatur  and 
his  men  leaped  aboard  the  frigate,  struck  down  those 
who  had  not  jumped  overboard  in  their  fright,  scattered 
combustibles  through  the  ship  and  kindled  the  flames, 
and  in  exactly  twenty  minutes  from  the  time  they 
boarded  the  Philadelphia  they  were  again  on  the  In- 
trepid, ropes  cut  and  the  men  pulling  for  the  open  sea, 
three  rousing  cheers  echoing  through  the  harbor.  But 
danger  was  not  yet  past:  the  enemy  turned  the  guns  of 
the  battery  in  their  direction,  and  the  heated  guns  of 
the  Philadelphia  pointed  their  way — ^but  no  shot  reached 
them  as  they  sped  to  safety.  With  this  deed,  which 
Lord  Nelson  declared  "the  most  bold  and  daring  of  the 
age,"  the  infant  navy  of  the  United  States  made  its  bow 
to  all  the  nations ;  and  the  gallantry  of  the  young  Ameri- 
can seamen  spread  abroad  the  fame  of  the  new  republic 
across  the  sea. 

A  little  later.  Commodore  Preble  made  a  successful 
attack  upon  the  city  of  Tripoli,  the  English  in  com- 

177 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

memoration  of  his  act  bringing  out  a  pitcher-design  of 
ships  attacking  fortifications,  with  these  descriptive 
lines:  "Commodore  Preble's  Squadron  Attacking  the 
City  of  Tripoli  Aug.  3,  1804.  The  American  Squadron 
under  Commodore  Preble  consisting  of  the  Constitution 
44  guns  2  Brigs  &  3  Schooners  2  bombs  &  4  Gunboats 
Attacking  the  City  and  Harbour  of  Tripoli  Aug.  3,  1804, 
the  city  was  defended  by  Batteries  Mounting  115  Pieces 
of  heavy  Cannon  &  the  Harbour  was  defended  by  19 
Gunboats  2  Brigs  2  Schooners  2  Gallies  and  a  Xebeck. 
the  city  Received  Great  Damage  Several  of  the  Tripoli- 
tan  Vessels  were  sunk  3  of  their  Gunboats  taken  &  a 
Great  Number  of  men  Killed." 

The  navy,  thus  brilliantly  introduced  to  the  world,  was 
enlarged  by  President  Madison,  acting  upon  the  coun- 
sel of  Captains  Bainbridge  and  Stuart,  who  foresaw  the 
need  of  an  adequate  naval  defense  if  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
were  not  to  become,  as  one  journal  declared,  "the  back 
dooryard  of  John  Bull" ;  that  parent,  like  many  another, 
being  loth  to  recognize  the  fact  that  his  latest  born  had 
attained  to  manhood  with  its  "inalienable  rights"  to  be 
respected.  A  medallion  portrait  of  President  Madison, 
the  "War  President,"  is  presented  upon  a  tall  yellow  jug, 
encircled  with  thirteen  wreaths,  each  wreath  enclosing 
the  name  of  one  of  the  States  of  the  Union.  Upon  a 
ribbon  scroll  above  the  portrait  is  the  inscription,  "James 
Madison  President  of  the  United  States  of  America"; 

178 


SAILOR  PITCHER 
■"The  True  Blooded  Yankee" 


U.  S.  FRIGATE  "GUERRIERE"  BOUND 
FOR  RUSSIA 
(Reverse  of  the  "Defense  of  Stonington") 


COMMODORE  STEPHEN  DECATUR 


\ 


/ 


PRESIDENT  MADISON— WAR   PRESIDENT 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

the  reverse  bears  the  legend,  "Independence  and  the  Fed- 
eral Union,  1815." 

Continued  British  interference  with  American  ship- 
ping, however,  as  well  as  the  forcible  impressment  of 
American  seamen  into  British  service,  finally  led  to  open 
rupture  with  England,  resulting  in  a  declaration  of  war. 

When  after  a  few  months  the  War  of  181 2,  the  actual 
"war  of  independence,"  as  Benjamin  Franklin  had 
prophesied  would  come  (the  first  being  but  a  "war  of 
revolution"),  resolved  itself  into  a  series  of  spectacular 
sea-fights,  the  potter-historians  of  Liverpool  found  in 
illustrating  them  a  new  and  a  greater  opportunity  for 
trade,  at  the  same  time  gratifying  the  pride  of  the  Amer- 
ican people ;  and  the  result  was  a  large  quantity  of  jugs 
and  punch  bowls  bearing  portraits  of  American  Commo- 
dores, together  with  scenes  of  their  engagements. 

Who  can  look  upon  the  forceful  features  of  Captain 
Isaac  Hull,  framed  in  the  emblems  of  his  calling,  with- 
out a  thrill  of  pride  as  he  calls  to  mind  the  brilliant  open- 
ing of  the  great  sea-drama  of  100  years  ago?  The  cur- 
tain rose  upon  the  first  important  act  on  July  17,  18 12; 
the  scene  was  the  open  sea  off  the  coast  of  our  southern 
States ;  the  action  was  a  race  rather  than  a  battle.  Hull, 
who  had  won  honors  in  the  Tripoli  incident,  sailed  out 
from  Chesapeake  Bay  in  the  frigate  Constitution,  and 
soon  sighted  a  squadron  of  the  enemy,  who,  when  morn- 
ing dawned,  were  seen  to  surround  him.     As  fighting 

179 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

against  such  odds  was  out  of  the  question,  all  that  re- 
mained for  Hull  to  do  was  to  run  for  home — and  the 
manner  in  which  he  ran  made  this  act,  without  fighting 
or  damage  on  either  side,  forever  famous  in  the  annals 
of  the  sea. 

The  ocean  was  so  calm  that  no  headway  could  be  made 
with  sails,  so  Hull  began  by  kedging.  He  sent  a  small 
boat  ahead  for  perhaps  half  a  mile  to  drop  a  kedge  an- 
chor and  carry  the  lines  back  to  the  ship,  then  the  crew 
fastened  the  lines  to  the  windlass  and  wound  them  up, 
pulling  the  vessel  to  the  anchor.  In  this  manner  Hull 
gradually  walked  away  from  the  enemy,  much  to  their 
mystified  surprise,  until  they  caught  sight  of  the  "deus 
ex  machina"  and  employed  the  same  method.  Hull 
promptly  cut  away  some  of  the  woodwork  of  his  cabin, 
ran  two  twenty-pound  guns  out  of  his  windows  and 
mounted  another  gun  as  a  stern  chaser  to  keep  the  enemy 
at  a  proper  distance.  The  unique  spectacle  is  pictured 
before  us — eleven  vessels  pursuing  one,  and  all  at  the 
mercy  of  the  wind,  the  star  actor  in  all  sea  performances 
before  the  age  of  steam.  For  three  days  the  chase  con- 
tinued; upon  the  evening  of  the  second  day  a  heavy 
squall  came  up  and  the  Constitution  furled  all  canvas ;  the 
enemy,  sighting  this  maneuver,  did  the  same.  Then, 
under  cover  of  the  darkening  storm,  the  Constitution 
quickly  hoisted  all  sail  and  ran  for  home.     When  morn- 

i8o 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

ing  broke,  the  enemy  was  far  astern  and  had  given  up  the 
chase. 

One  month  later,  Hull  again  sailed  out,  this  time  from 
Boston,  in  search  of  adventure,  and  before  long  he  came 
up  with  it  in  the  form  of  an  English  frigate  flaunting 
upon  her  mainsail  in  huge  red  letters  the  challenge : 

All  who  meet  me  have  a  care, 
I  am  England's  Guerriere. 

She  proved  to  be  one  of  the  squadron  which  had  recently 
chased  Hull  out  of  the  southern  seas ;  now  she  was  alone 
and  no  time  was  lost  in  giving  battle.  For  two  hours 
the  Constitution  returned  fire  for  fire  in  as  fierce  a  sea 
duel  as  ever  the  ocean  witnessed.  At  last,  the  boastful 
English  flag  was  lowered  and  Hull  lay  by  until  the 
whitening  dawn  revealed  the  Guerriere  a  wreck,  then 
her  men  were  taken  aboard  Hull's  vessel,  fire  was  applied 
and  she  was  blown  to  pieces.  Captain  Hull  was  the 
hero  of  the  hour  when  he  landed  in  Boston  with  his 
prisoners.  He  made  a  sort  of  triumphal  progress  to 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  through  villages  decorated 
with  banners  and  arches,  gifts  of  snuflf-boxes  and  swords 
being  everywhere  pressed  upon  him.  Congress  voted 
him  a  gold  medal,  a  silver  one  to  each  of  his  officers  and 
$50,000  to  the  crew.  In  this  engagement  the  Constitu- 
tion for  the  second  time  proved  herself  something  more 

181 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

than  the  English  journal's  slighting  description,  "a 
bunch  of  pine  boards  under  a  bit  of  striped  bunting,"  the 
same  journal  now  voicing  England's  new-born  fear  that 
"this  new  enemy,  unaccustomed  to  such  triumphs,  might 
be  rendered  insolent  and  confident  by  them." 

That  the  confidence,  at  least,  of  the  Republic  was 
strengthened  by  success  may  plainly  be  understood  by 
a  study  of  the  next  pictured  engagement — ^the  duel  be- 
tween the  American  sloop-of-war  Wasp,  Captain 
Jones,  and  the  English  brig  Frolic,  which  took  place  off 
Cape  Hatteras  on  October  17,  181 2.  The  fray  con- 
tinued close  and  furious  for  forty-three  minutes,  with 
the  two  vessels  at  last  so  close  upon  one  another  that 
the  muzzles  of  two  of  the  Wasp's  guns  were  actually 
in  the  bow  parts  of  the  Frolic,  her  last  discharge  sweep- 
ing the  English  ship  from  stem  to  stern.  Seeing  no 
sign  of  submission  from  the  enemy,  a  sailor  of  the  Wasp 
leaped  aboard  the  Frolic  and  to  his  amazement  met  no 
opposition — all  were  dead  or  wounded  except  the  man 
at  the  wheel.  The  end  of  the  engagement,  however, 
was  like  the  end  of  the  fable — a  British  frigate  suddenly 
hove  in  sight,  made  prize  of  both  vessels  and  bore  them 
off  to  Bermuda. 

Upon  the  same  day  of  the  battle  between  the  Wasp 
and  the  Frolic,  Captain  Decatur  won  a  brilliant  victory 
with  the  frigate  United  States  over  the  British  ship 
Macedonian,  near  the  Azores  Islands.     On  his  return 

182 


COMMODORE  HULL 


GENERAL  PIKE 


THE  "WASP"  BOARDING  "THE  FROLIC" 


BATTLE  OF  THE  "  ENTERPRISE  "  AND  "  BOXER 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

to  New  York  with  his  prize  in  tow,  he,  like  Hull,  was 
honored  with  a  banquet,  public  rejoicings  and  a  gold 
medal.  "No  one  could  suppose  such  an  event  could 
have  taken  place,"  was  England's  astounded  comment, 
while  at  the  same  time  a  Liverpool  potter  printed  on  a 
jug,  underneath  a  portrait  of  the  successful  Commo- 
dore, the  following  lines : 

"Then  quickly  met  our  nation's  eyes 
The  noblest  sight  in  nature, 
A  first-class  frigate  as  a  prize 
Brought  back  by  brave  Decatur." 

And  an  American  rhymster  voiced  the  attitude  of  the 
American  public  thus : 

Let  Britain  no  longer  lay  claim  to  the  seas, 
For  the  trident  of  Neptune  is  ours,  if  we  please, 
While  Hull  and  Decatur  and  Jones  are  our  boast, 
We  dare  their  whole  navy  to  come  to  our  coast. 

The  following  act  in  this  drama,  fast  taking  on  the 
appearance  of  a  melodrama,  with  eager  spectators 
agaze  over  all  Europe,  took  place  off  the  coast  of  Brazil. 
It  was  the  battle  between  the  now  veteran  Constitution, 
this  time  in  command  of  Captain  Bainbridge,  and  the 
English  frigate  Java.  The  story  of  the  Constitution 
and  the  Guerriere  was  repeated — after  nearly  two 
hours  of  fighting  the  wrecked  Java  was  fired,  while  the 
American  vessel   received  but   slight   injury.     "Avast 

183 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Boys,  She's  Struck!"  the  words  of  Captain  Bainbridge 
as  he  saw  the  enemy  surrender  are  printed  under  his 
potrait  upon  a  mug  of  Liverpool  manufacture,  together 
with  this  jaunty  couplet: 

"On  Brazil's  Coast  She  ruled  the  roost 
When  Bainbridge  was  her  Captain." 

Captain  Bainbridge  came  in,  after  this  victory,  for  his 
share  of  gold  snuff-boxes  and  silver  services,  while  the 
staunch  ship  Constitution  (now  preserved  in  the  Boston 
dockyard  for  all  to  inspect)  was  newly  christened  Old 
Ironsides.  The  English  papers  then  said  that  the  sit- 
uation called  for  "serious  reflection,"  while  they  la- 
mented that  upwards  of  five  hundred  British  vessels 
had  been  captured  in  seven  months  by  Americans — 
"5CXD  merchantmen  and  three  frigates  (ay  and  three 
sloops-of-war!)"  are  their  words.  That  "Nucleus  of 
trouble"  which  Lord  Nelson  had  prophesied  lay  in  the 
American  fleet  was  developing  rapidly  for  the  mother 
country. 

The  naval  scenery  of  the  war  now  shifts  from  the 
ocean  to  the  inland  waterways  lying  between  American 
territory  and  Canada,  to  secure  control  of  which  at  this 
time  was  one  of  the  chief  concerns  of  the  English. 
Many  skirmishes  took  place  along  the  wilderness  shores 
of  the  Great  Lakes,  one  of  which  is  recalled  by  the  por- 
trait of  General  Pike,  accompanied  with  his  prophetic 

184 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

words:  "Be  always  ready  to  die  for  your  country." 
General  Pike  expired  as  he  was  about  to  enter,  a  victor, 
into  the  city  of  York,  now  Toronto,  at  that  time  the  capi- 
tal city  of  Canada.  The  act  of  firing  the  Government 
Buildings  of  that  city  by  the  American  soldiers,  against 
General  Pike's  orders,  was  later  on  in  the  war  avenged  in 
kind  by  the  British  burning  the  public  buildings  at  Wash- 
ington. 

Command  of  Lake  Erie  was  gained  for  the  Americans 
by  that  brilliant  engagement,  the  recital  of  which  will 
forever  stir  the  imagination  of  each  succeeding  genera- 
tion of  American  school  boys.  "Perry's  Victory  on 
Lake  Erie,"  as  they  named  the  episode,  was  a  favorite 
subject  for  illustration  by  the  English  potters,  sketches 
of  this  first  "fleet  action"  of  the  war  decorating  sets  of 
Staflfordshire  blue  tableware  as  well  as  numerous  yellow 
pitchers  of  Liverpool. 

Perry  collected  his  boats  at  Put-in-Bay,  and  on  the 
evening  before  the  battle,  September  9,  18 13,  he  gave  his 
orders  to  his  officers,  showing  them  a  flag  with  "Don't 
Give  Up  The  Ship"  in  white  letters  upon  it^the  dying 
words  of  Captain  Lawrence  in  the  battle  between  the 
Chesapeake  and  the  Shannon  fought  upon  the  sea  near 
Boston  three  months  before,  words  and  portrait  of  Cap- 
tain Lawrence  being  also  printed  upon  a  commemorative 
pitcher.  "When  this  flag  shall  be  hoisted  at  the  main 
yard  of  the  Lawrence,  it  shall  be  your  signal  for  going 

185 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

into  action,"  he  told  them.  At  daylight  the  next  morn- 
ing the  English  squadron  was  sighted,  and  the  engage- 
ment begun. 

In  the  illustration  may  be  seen  the  two  lines  of  naval 
ships  drawn  up  in  battle  form,  six  on  the  British  side  and 
nine  under  Commodore  Perry — and,  may  not  the  tiny 
boat  passing  from  one  vessel  to  another  be  the  one  in 
which  Perry,  after  his  flagship  Lawrence  had  been  put 
out  of  action,  made  his  way  through  a  storm  of  bullets 
to  the  Niagara,  on  board  of  which  he  sailed  through  the 
enemy's  line  and  won  the  day  ?  "We  have  met  the  enemy 
and  they  are  ours;  two  ships,  two  brigs,  one  schooner 
and  one  sloop" — the  terse  message  of  the  gallant  victor's 
dispatch  will  never  lose  its  power  to  thrill !  A  deep  blue 
Staffordshire  platter  honors  "The  Hero  of  the  Lake" 
with  a  memorial  design  executed  by  W.  G.  Wall,  who 
came  to  New  York  in  the  year  1818  and  sent  this  among 
other  paintings  of  American  views,  to  English  pottery 
works  for  reproduction.  A  fanciful  structure  with 
gothic  spires  is  shown,  upon  the  summit  of  which  Fame 
is  sounding  a  trumpet  over  an  expanse  of  sea ;  at  the  left 
of  the  design  may  be  seen  the  abundant  weeping  willow 
of  conventional  early  nineteenth-century  memorials. 

Many  minor  sea  engagements  followed,  that  between 
the  Enterprise  and  Boxer,  of  which  a  spirited  sketch  is 
shown,  being  among  them.  This  action  took  place  off 
the  coast  of  Maine  not  far  from  the  city  of  Portland, 

186 


(I)  DEFENSE  OF  STONINGTON,  CONNECTICUT 
(2)     A  FRIGATE 


COMMODORE  PREBLE'S  SQUADRON  ATTACK- 
ING THE  CITY  OF  TRIPOLI,  AUGUST  3, 
1804.  REVERSE— PORTRAIT  OP  COM- 
MODORE PREBLE. 

(Liverpool  Pitcher,  in  Dickins  Collection  in 
Washington,  D.  C.) 


BATTLE  OF  LAKE  CHAMPLAIN 
Commodore  Macdonough's  Victory 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

and  resulted  in  the  death  of  both  captains.  The  poet 
Longfellow,  then  a  lad  of  seven  years  living  in  Port- 
land, in  later  life  recalled  the  scene  in  his  poem,  My  Lost 
Youth : 

I  remember  the  sea  fight  far  away. 

How  it  thundered  o'er  the  tide ! 

And  the  dead  captains  as  they  lay 

In  their  graves,  o'erlooking  the  tranquil  bay 

Where  they  in  battle  died. 

And  the  sound  of  that  mournful  song 

Goes  through  me  with  a  thrill : 

"A  boy's  will  is  the  wind's  will, 

And  the  thoughts  of  youth  are  long,  long  thoughts." 

The  charming  view  of  the  harbor  of  Stonington, 
Connecticut,  framed  in  a  waving  steamer  inscribed,  "The 
Gallant  Defense  of  Stonington,  August  9,  1814.  Ston- 
ington is  Free  whilst  her  Heroes  have  one  Gun  left," 
tells  its  own  story.  The  little  settlement  of  icx)  houses 
situated  upon  an  exposed  neck  of  land  was  attacked,  the 
ships  of  the  enemy  bombarding  it  with  every  kind  of 
missile  known  to  that  war.  The  citizens  of  Stonington 
possessed  plenty  of  courage,  but  only  one  gun,  and  when 
the  enemy  ceased  firing  on  one  side  and  sailed  around 
to  the  other  of  the  narrow  peninsula,  the  patriots 
promptly  dragged  the  lone  six-pounder  across  the  nar- 
row strip  of  land  and  did  such  deadly  execution  with  it 
that  the  disheartened  enemy  withdrew.  The  reverse 
of  the  pitcher  (shown  in  another  illustration)  bears  a 

187 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

print  of  a  vessel  under  full  sail,  with  the  words  beneath : 
"United  States  Frigate  Guerrtere,  Commodore  Mac- 
donough  bound  to  Russia  July,  1818."  It  is  recorded 
that  a  citizen  of  Stonington  went  to  Russia  on  public 
service  in  the  Guerrtere,  and  while  en  route  he  stopped 
at  Liverpool  and  ordered  these  pitchers,  he  himself  mak- 
ing the  drawing  of  the  battle  scene  for  the  English  en- 
graver. 

The  china-history  of  the  sea  engagements  of  the  War 
of  18 12  closes  with  a  sketch  of  the  Battle  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  Like  the  Battle  of  Lake  Erie,  this  too  was  a  fleet 
action,  and  the  tactics  of  Captain  Macdonough  which 
had  much  to  do  with  deciding  the  final  victory  equaled 
in  brilliancy  and  courage  the  dash  of  Perry  through  the 
enemy's  line.  Before  taking  command  of  the  fleet  on 
Lake  Champlain,  Captain  Macdonough  had  seen  con- 
siderable naval  service,  having  been  aboard  the  Phila- 
delphia when  she  was  captured  by  the  pirates  and  towed 
into  the  harbor  of  Tripoli;  and  later,  having  served 
on  board  the  Enterprise  under  Commodore  Decatur. 
At  sunrise  on  September  11,  1814,  as  the  British' squad- 
ron came  in  sight  on  Lake  Champlain,  Captain  Mac- 
donough called  his  officers  about  him  upon  the  quarter 
deck,  and  together  they  prayed  for  wisdom  and  guidance 
in  the  task  before  them.  The  British  vessels  advanced 
to  within  a  few  yards,  when  a  pet  game  cock  on  Mac- 
donough's  flagship  flew  upon  a  cannon  and  crowed 

188 


MEMORI.V .  UMMODORE  PERRY 

The  Temple  of  Fame 

{Slci'enson) 

{From  *'  Anglo- American  Pottery";  by  permission  of  Dr.  Edwin  A.  Barber) 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

lustily — a  favorable  omen,  the  sailors  believed,  as  they 
cheered  and  rushed  into  the  fray.  In  addition  to  com- 
manding the  fleet  in  this  action,  Macdonough  worked 
like  a  common  sailor  at  any  task  that  came  to  hand,  being 
also  able  to  maneuver  his  flagship,  the  Saratoga,  in  such 
a  way  that  it  could  be  turned  completely  around,  and, 
after  deadly  firing  had  disabled  all  the  guns  of  his  star- 
board side,  to  pour  such  a  volley  from  his  larboard  bat- 
tery that  after  two  hours  of  desperate  struggle  the  Eng- 
lish hauled  down  their  colors — and  New  York  State  was 
saved  from  invasion.  When  the  English  officers  came 
to  offer  their  swords  to  him.  Captain  Macdonough  cour- 
teously said,  "Gentlemen,  your  gallant  conduct  makes 
you  worthy  to  wear  your  weapons.  Return  them  to 
their  scabbards." 

Two  interesting  pitchers  which  aid  in  the  recital  of 
the  story  of  the  War  of  181 2  remain  to  be  described. 
The  first,  of  copper  luster  ware,  shows  a  full-rigged  ves- 
sel surrounded  by  a  chain  of  elliptical  links  containing 
the  names  of  Hull,  Jones,  Lawrence,  Macdonough, 
Porter,  Blakey,  Beatry,  Stuart,  Washington,  Perry, 
Rogers,  Bainbridge,  and  Decatur,  with  two  clasped  hands 
holding  the  chain.  Upon  the  other  side,  an  American 
eagle  with  "E  Pluribus  Unum"  is  enclosed  in  a  similar 
chain  which  links  the  names  Brown,  McComb,  Ripley, 
Pike,  Porter,  Miller,  Brainbridge,  Izard,  Van  Rensselaer, 
Adair,  Lewis,  Gaines,  Scott  and  Jardson — what  a  galaxy 

189 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

of  events  these  groups  of  historic  names  summon  to  the 
mind ! 

The  second  pitcher  was  made  by  Enoch  Wood  &  Son 
at  their  potteries  in  Burslem,  Staffordshire,  about  the 
year  1824,  and  is  immense  in  size  for  a  pitcher,  standing 
twenty  inches  high,  with  a  body  eighteen  inches  in  diame- 
ter. This  is  known  as  the  "Historical  Pitcher  of  the 
War  of  1 81 2,"  the  decorations  portraying  many  inci- 
dents of  that  period.  Upon  either  side  of  a  secondary 
handle  are  portraits  of  Washington  and  Adams,  while 
one  side  of  the  body  bears  portraits  of  Captain  Jones  of 
the  Macedonian,  Major-General  Brown  of  the  Niagara 
campaign,  Commodore  Bainbridge  of  the  Constitution, 
and  prints  representing  the  Constitution  escaping  from 
the  British  fleet,  Commodore  Macdonough's  victory  on 
Lake  Champlain,  and  an  American  eagle  with  the  motto, 
E  Pluribus  Unum.  Upon  the  reverse  are  portraits  of 
Commodore  Decatur,  Commodore  Perry  and  Captain 
Hull  of  the  Constitution;  below  are  represented  the  en- 
gagements between  the  Chesapeake  and  Shannon  off 
Boston  Harbor,  June  i,  181 3,  Commodore  Perry's  Vic- 
tory on  Lake  Erie,  and  the  line  from  his  message,  "We 
have  met  the  enemy  and  they  are  ours."  This  pitcher 
was  made  for  an  early  citizen  of  Troy,  New  York,  and 
was  first  publicly  used  at  a  reception  given  in  that  city  in 
honor  of  General  Lafayette  upon  the  occasion  of  his  visit 
in  September,  1824. 

190 


NAVAL  HEROES  OF  THE  WAR  OF  1812 

The  final  battle  of  the  War  of  18 12  was  a  land  engage- 
ment fought  at  New  Orleans,  the  United  States  forces 
under  command  of  General  Jackson,  who  later  on  became 
President.  Before  the  battle  was  ended,  peace  with 
Great  Britain  had  been  agreed  upon,  the  Treaty  being 
signed  at  Ghent,  Belgium,  on  December  24,  1814. 
Upon  December  26,  an  envoy  set  out  for  the  United 
States  with  a  copy  of  the  document,  crossing  the  Atlantic 
upon  a  British  sloop  of  war.  He  arrived  in  New  York 
February  11,  having  been  thirty-eight  days  upon  the 
voyage — and  the  tidings  which  he  brought  with  him  one 
hundred  years  ago  were  a  few  months  past  the  cause  of 
quiet,  owing  to  the  tragic  circumstances  of  the  other 
contracting  party  to  the  treaty,  but  intense  satisfaction 
and  congratulation.  In  the  hearts  of  all  Americans 
echoes  the  sentiment  which  a  century  ago  was  inscribed 
upon  a  Liverpool  pitcher :     "May  they  ever  be  united." 


191 


CHAPTER  XIII 

GENERAL   LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT   TO   AMERICA 

NO  event  in  the  early  history  of  the  United  States 
stirred  such  depths  of  popular  affection  as  the 
famous  visit  of  General  Lafayette — for,  was  he  not  the 
friend  of  the  first  President,  the  adopted  son  of  Amer- 
ica, as  well  as,  in  many  minds,  the  savior  of  the  coun- 
try? His  life  had  been  filled  with  stirring  romance 
— the  years  of  early  manhood  spent  in  defense  of  the 
freedom  of  the  American  colonies,  in  forwarding  the 
cause  of  liberty  in  his  own  land  and  as  a  prisoner  of  state 
in  the  dungeons  of  Austria.  Then,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
seven,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  half  a  century,  upon  the 
invitation  of  the  young  republic  of  the  United  States  he 
crossed  the  ocean  once  more  to  look  upon  the  land  of  his 
youthful  affection. 

From  one  limit  of  our  territory  to  another  he  went, 
passing  through  each  of  the  twenty-four  States.  He 
visited  all  of  the  principal  cities ;  he  was  the  guest  of  two 
presidents  in  the  White  House ;  he  took  part  in  three  an- 
niversaries of  the  Revolutionary  War,  in  every  place 
such  crowds  thronging  to  see  him  that  few  persons  failed 
to  catch  a  glimpse  of  his  face. 

192 


GENERAL  LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  TO  AMERICA 

Many  souvenirs  in  honor  of  Lafayette's  visit  made 
their  appearance — ^the  ladies  wearing  Lafayette  buckles 
upon  their  slippers  and  his  portrait  upon  their  scarfs  and 
their  gloves;  his  features  also  appeared  upon  buttons  and 
upon  the  material  of  which  men's  waistcoats  were  made. 
And,  as  blue  china  decorated  with  American  views  was 
then  at  the  height  of  its  popularity,  numerous  dinner  and 
tea  sets  bearing  the  pictured  story  of  his  visit  came  to 
America  from  over  the  sea.  "Welcome,  Lafayette,  the 
Nation's  Guest  and  our  Country's  Glory"  and  "As  Brave 
and  Disinterested  as  Washington"  were  among  the  senti- 
ments printed  upon  china  with  which  the  English  potters 
honored  their  one-time  foe.  Lafayette's  visit  was  coin- 
cident with  the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal,  therefore 
his  portrait  (as  the  following  chapter  relates)  graced 
also  the  pottery  produced  in  honor  of  that  occasion. 

The  first  illustration  is  of  the  Cadmus,  the  sailing  ves- 
sel in  which  Lafayette,  accompanied  by  his  son  George 
Washington  Lafayette,  and  his  secretary,  came  to  Amer- 
ica. This  picture  is  of  special  value,  for  it  preserves 
a  sketch  of  an  American  merchantman,  a  type  of  vessel 
in  common  use  upon  the  seas  for  many  years  after  the 
colonies  had  become  a  republic.  The  Cadmus  was 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  General  Lafayette  and  his  party 
by  its  New  York  owners  after  the  offer  of  President 
Monroe  to  send  a  Government  vessel  to  fetch  them  had 
been  refused.     No  other  passengers  were  allowed  on 

193 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

board,  no  cargo  was  shipped,  nor  would  the  owners  ac- 
cept any  reward  for  their  services,  deeming  the  honor  of 
conveying  the  distinguished  guest  a  sufficient  return. 
As  it  appears  in  the  illustration,  framed  in  an  appropri- 
ate border  of  sea  shells  and  mosses,  the  little  vessel  seems 
to  float  upon  as  calm  and  sunlit  a  sea  as  that  which  bore 
the  hero  to  our  shores. 

After  fifteen  days'  sail  the  Cadmus  reached  New 
York  harbor,  and,  welcomed  by  the  booming  of  cannon 
from  Fort  Lafayette,  she  put  into  port  at  Staten  Island. 
It  was  Sabbath  day,  and,  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of 
the  citizens  of  New  York,  the  guests  were  quietly  re- 
ceived at  the  home  of  vice-President  Daniel  D.  Tomp- 
kins on  Staten  Island.  Upon  the  following  morning  the 
formal  entry  into  the  United  States  took  place,  and  from 
the  beautiful  blue  platter  inscribed :  "Landing  of  Gen- 
eral Lafayette  at  Castle  Garden,  August  i6,  1824," 
may  be  read  the  story  of  that  famous  landing  scene. 
The  old  fort,  or  Castle  Garden  (other  views  of  which 
may  be  found  in  a  former  chapter),  is  separated  from 
the  Battery  by  a  bridge  300  feet  long;  the  harbor  is 
thronged  with  gayly  trimmed  vessels ;  the  Battery  guns 
are  booming  forth  a  welcome ;  and  heralds  are  galloping 
excitedly  to  and  fro.  Three  of  the  newly  invented 
steamboats,  "floating  palaces,"  Lafayette  called  them, 
may  be  seen — the  one  in  the  center  being  the  Fulton,  and 
the  large  boat  at  the  left  the  Chancellor  Livingston,  with 

194 


GENERAL  LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  TO  AMERICA 

the  honored  guest  on  board — the  Chancellor  Livingston 
at  that  time  being  considered  the  most  beautiful  and  luxu- 
rious vessel  in  the  world.  Following  in  the  train  of  the 
steamboats,  as  the  naval  procession  makes  its  way  to  the 
landing  at  the  Battery,  comes  the  Cadmus  "borne  in 
triumph  rather  than  towed"  by  the  new  vessels.  Look- 
ing upon  this  scene,  in  fancy  one  hears  the  welcoming 
huzzas  of  two  hundred  thousand  people  as  Lafayette 
steps  upon  the  shore ;  strains  of  the  French  song,  "Where 
can  one  better  be  than  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,"  fill 
the  air ;  and  listen,  do  you  not  catch  the  broken  voice  of 
the  battle-scarred  warrior  of  the  Revolution  as  he  grasps 
his  hero's  hand : — "I  saw  you  in  the  heat  of  battle.  You 
were  but  a  boy,  but  you  were  a  serious  and  sedate  lad." 

To  the  City  Hall  (the  beautiful  building  pictured  in  a 
former  chapter),  Lafayette's  carriage  is  drawn,  and 
the  illustrious  guest  listens  to  the  Mayor's  speech  of  wel- 
come, the  popular  sentiments  of  gratitude  which  he 
voices  being  later  echoed  throughout  every  State  in  the 
Union : 

"Posterity  will  never  forget  the  young  and  gallant 
Frenchman  who  consecrated  his  youth,  his  talents,  his 
fortune  and  his  exertions  to  their  cause,  who  exposed  his 
life,  who  shed  his  blood,  that  they  might  become  free  and 
happy.  They  will  recollect  that  you  came  to  them  in  the 
darkest  period  of  their  struggle,  that  you  linked  your 
fortune  with  theirs  when  it  seemed  almost  hopeless — that 

195 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

you  shared  in  the  dangers,  privations  and  sufferings  of 
that  bitter  struggle,  nor  quitted  them  for  a  moment  till 
it  was  consummated  in  the  glorious  field  of  Yorktown. 
The  people  of  the  United  States  look  up  to  you  as  one  of 
their  most  honored  parents." 

In  preceding  chapters  many  of  New  York's  buildings, 
streets  and  squares  that  met  the  eyes  of  the  distinguished 
guests  have  been  pictured,  among  them  the  City  Hotel 
on  Broadway,  the  famous  hostelry  in  which  they  lodged; 
Saint  Paul's  Chapel,  then  out  in  the  fields,  in  which 
Lafayette  attended  a  concert  of  sacred  music,  remarking 
upon  the  beauty  of  the  ladies  of  the  audience ;  Columbia 
College,  Scudder's  Museum,  the  Hospital  and  Alms- 
house. The  French  guests  went  to  see  a  play  at  the 
Park  Theater,  and  such  a  tumult  arose  upon  Lafayette's 
entrance  that  the  actors  were  obliged  to  stop  the  per- 
formance and  to  sing  verses  bearing  the  refrains,  "The 
Companion  of  Washington,"  "The  Captive  of  Olmutz," 
"The  Guest  of  the  Nation." 

At  a  banquet  tendered  by  the  French  residents  of 
New  York  to  celebrate  the  47th  anniversary  of  the  Battle 
of  the  Brandywine,  Lafayette  found  the  table  carved  in 
imitation  of  the  Erie  Canal,  then  nearing  completion. 
For  a  distance  of  seventy  feet,  the  length  of  the  table,  a 
slender  stream  of  water  found  its  way  between  banks 
lined  with  trees,  under  miniature  bridges  and  through 
meadows  dotted  with  tiny  houses  and  cattle.     The  Grand 

196 


THE  "  CADMUS,"  IN  WHICH  LAFAYETTE 

CAME  TO  AMERICA 

(Wood) 


LAFAYETTE  AS  HE  APPEARED  IN  1824 
Erie  Canal  Series 
{Stevenson) 


LAFAYETTE  MOURNING  AT  TOMB 

OF  WASHINGTON 

{Wood) 


LA  GRANGE— EAST  VIEW 
(Enoch  Wood  &  Sons) 


GENERAL  LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  TO  AMERICA 

Fete,  for  which  the  city  had  been  preparing  for  many 
weeks,  eclipsed  all  other  entertainments.  It  took  place 
in  Castle  Garden,  the  guests  passing  from  the  Battery 
over  the  long  bridge,  now  laid  with  rich  carpets,  lined 
with  evergreens  and  adorned  with  statues  of  Washing- 
ton and  Hamilton.  From  the  center  of  the  bridge  rose 
a  pyramid  seventy-five  feet  high,  illumined  with  colored 
lamps  and  crowned  with  a  star  blazing  the  name  Lafa- 
yette. In  the  interior  of  the  Hall  stood  thirteen  col- 
umns, each  one  decorated  with  the  Coat  of  Arms  of  one 
of  the  original  thirteen  States.  Lafayette  entered  the 
vaulted  building  through  a  triumphal  arch,  and  as  he 
took  his  seat  the  familiar  refrain,  "Where  can  one  bet- 
ter be  than  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,"  filled  the  hall,  up 
rolled  the  curtains  which  formed  the  sides,  and  a  huge 
transparency  of  Lafayette's  French  chateau  La  Grange, 
entitled  "Here  is  his  Home,"  was  flashed  before  him,  to 
the  accompaniment  of  rousing  cheers. 

Lafayette  and  his  party,  together  with  an  escort  of 
New  York  citizens,  set  out  for  a  visit  to  Boston,  travel- 
ing by  coach,  as  it  was  several  years  before  the  days  of 
railroads.  At  every  village  and  hamlet  in  their  five 
days'  journey  they  were  greeted  with  banquets,  speeches, 
fireworks  and  processions;  they  passed  under  triumphal 
arches  inscribed  with  the  names  of  Lafayette  and  Wash- 
ington, or  with  the  dates  of  the  Battles  of  the  Brandy- 
wine  and  Yorktown;  torch-bearing  horsemen  escorted 

197 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

them  from  village  to  village;  and  their  passage  was 
lighted  with  bonfires  kindled  on  the  hilltops  and  cheered 
with  bugle  calls  echoing  through  the  valleys.  The  ap- 
proach to  Boston  was  lined  for  two  miles  with  militia, 
among  the  escort  being  a  company  of  sixty  boys  drawing 
a  cannon,  which,  in  their  eagerness  to  salute  the  guest, 
they  stopped  now  and  then  and  fired.  Upon  Boston 
Common,  Lafayette  made  his  way  through  a  long  double 
line  of  boys  and  girls  from  the  public  schools,  each  one 
decorated  with  a  Lafayette  ribbon;  a  little  girl  stepped 
forward  and  was  raised  to  the  General's  carriage,  she 
placed  a  crown  of  evergreen  upon  his  head,  embraced 
him  and  called  him  "Father." 

The  Boston  which  greeted  General  Lafayette  has  al- 
ready been  studied  in  illustrations — the  State  House  and 
the  homes  of  the  city's  prominent  citizens,  fronting  upon 
the  Common;  the  churches.  Library,  Hospital,  and 
places  of  business  and  amusement.  In  the  Halls  of  Har- 
vard College,  Lafayette  attended  the  exercises  of  Com- 
mencement, and  was  greeted  with  especial  honor  as  one 
who  had  "founded  a  democratic  government  under  which 
education  best  flourishes."  Commodore  Bainbridge, 
one  of  the  naval  heroes  of  the  War  of  1812,  received 
Lafayette  at  the  Charlestown  Navy  Yard.  At  Bunker 
Hill,  Lafayette  paused  at  the  grave  of  General  Warren ; 
and  he  went  quietly  out  to  Quincy  and  gladdened  the 
heart  of  his  old  friend,  ex-President  John  Adams,  then 

198 


GENERAL  LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  TO  AMERICA 

a  man  of  eighty-nine.  At  Lexington,  the  militia  defiled 
before  Lafayette  as  he  stood  beside  the  pyramid  which 
still  marks  the  place  where  the  first  martyrs  of  American 
liberty  fell,  the  French  hero  himself,  as  the  speaker  said 
in  his  address,  "A  second  and  living  monument  of  the 
Revolution."  Boston's  farewell  banquet  was  served  un- 
der an  immense  tent  on  the  Common,  to  twelve  hundred 
guests,  the  center  of  the  table  being  graced  with  a  silver 
dish  filled  with  arms,  shot,  military  buttons,  etc.,  col- 
lected on  Bunker  Hill. 

A  pleasant  incident  of  the  return  journey  to  New 
York  is  suggested  by  the  illustration  of  the  Deaf  and 
Dumb  Asylum  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  the  first  institu- 
tion of  its  kind  in  the  United  States,  having  been  opened 
but  seven  years  before  Lafayette's  visit  by  Thomas  H. 
Gallaudet.  The  unfortunate  children  who  were  drawn 
up  in  line  to  greet  Lafayette  pointed  to  a  banner  which 
they  held  over  their  hearts,  inscribed  with  the  words, 
"What  others  express,  we  feel."  In  this  city  a  com- 
rade of  Revolutionary  days  presented  to  Lafayette  the 
very  epaulettes  and  scarf  which  he  wore  upon  the  field 
of  Brandywine;  they  still  retained  traces  of  his  blood. 
The  party  made  a  short  stop  at  New  Haven  in  order  to 
pay  a  visit  to  Yale  College,  before  returning  to  New 
York. 

Lafayette's  sail  up  the  Hudson  River  in  the  steamboat 
James  Kent,  accompanied  by  a  number  of  ladies  and 

199 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

gentlemen  of  New  York,  was  one  long  gala  jaunt.  A 
group  of  Revolutionary  veterans  attended  the  General, 
and  together  they  spent  many  hours  on  deck  in  enjoy- 
ment of  the  beautiful  scenery — the  Passes  in  the  High- 
lands, the  mountains,  the  fertile  shores,  and  the  boats 
of  many  kinds  plying  up  and  down  the  river.  As  their 
vessel  passed  historic  points  on  the  river  banks,  the  com- 
pany reviewed  the  events  of  fifty  years  before:  ap- 
proaching Tarrytown,  they  pronounced  the  names  of  the 
three  militiamen,  John  Paulding,  David  Williams  and 
Isaac  Van  Wert,  who  near  that  spot  had  taken  Major 
Andre  prisoner,  as  he  was  attempting  to  pass  to  the 
English  lines  with  treasonable  papers  concealed  in  his 
boots ;  a  little  farther  up  the  river,  all  eyes  turned  in  the 
direction  of  a  house  standing  alone,  not  far  from  the 
river  bank — in  that  house  Benedict  Arnold  had  traf- 
ficked for  the  ruin  of  his  country. 

At  West  Point,  the  party  went  ashore  and  were  driven 
in  carriages  up  the  hill  to  the  Military  Academy,  where 
Lafayette  reviewed  the  cadets,  two  hundred  in  number, 
and  partook  of  their  entertainment.  Upon  the  platter 
pictured  in  a  former  chapter  is  a  view  of  the  river  bank, 
the  hills  and  the  small  group  of  buildings  as  they  ap- 
peared to  the  guests  in  1824.  The  James  Kent  was  four 
hours  late  in  arriving  at  Newburgh,  and  the  thousands 
of  people  who  had  gathered  to  greet  Lafayette  had  be- 
come impatient  and  beyond  the  control  of  the  officers. 

200 


GENERAL  LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  TO  AMERICA 

At  last,  while  the  General  was  at  dinner,  the  tumult  be- 
came so  loud  that  the  mayor  of  the  town  took  Lafayette 
by  the  hand,  and,  preceded  by  torches,  they  made  their 
way  to  an  upper  balcony  of  the  hotel  which  overlooked 
the  street. 

"Gentlemen,"  called  the  mayor  to  the  crowds  below, 
*'Do  you  wish  to  distress  the  Nation's  Guest?" 

"No!    No!    No!" 

"Do  you  wish  that  Lafayette  should  be  deprived  of  his 
liberty  in  a  country  indebted  to  him  for  its  freedom  ?" 

"No!    No!    No!" 

The  people  became  silent  and  respectful. 

Poughkeepsie,  the  next  landing  place,  was  at  that  time 
a  town  of  nearly  five  thousand  inhabitants,  and  Lafa- 
yette was  entertained  in  the  very  house  where  Washing- 
ton, Hamilton,  Chancellor  Livingston  and  Mr.  Jay  had 
met  to  discuss  the  Constitution  which  afterwards  was 
adopted  by  the  United  States.  Continuing  their  voy- 
age, the  party  spent  the  night  at  Clermont,  the  country 
residence  of  Chancellor  Livingston,  the  name  of  which 
Robert  Fulton  gave  to  the  first  boat  to  make  the  trip  by 
steam  upon  the  Hudson. 

As  the  vessel  wound  its  slow  way  up  the  river,  glimpses 
of  the  Catskill  Mountains,  which  have  been  presented  in 
the  "Tour  of  the  Land,"  called  forth  exclamations  of  de- 
light from  the  passengers.    When,  at  the  village  of  Cats- 

201 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

kill,  Lafayette  was  greeted  by  a  soldier  who  had  fought 
with  him  on  the  field  of  Brandywine,  and  at  Hudson,  an- 
other veteran  handed  him  a  sword  which  he  had  once 
received  from  Lafayette,  with  the  words:  "After  my 
death  this  sword  will  change  owners,  but  its  destination 
shall  never  be  changed :  it  shall  always  serve  in  defense 
of  liberty,"  the  General's  joy  was  expressed  in  tears. 

Albany  awaited  the  Guest  of  the  Nation  with  elabo- 
rate festivities,  "those  who  shared  with  you  the  toils  of 
the  Revolution  and  still  live,"  as  the  speaker  said,  pay- 
ing him  tribute.  Lafayette  noted  important  changes  in 
the  city  which,  as  a  village  upon  the  frontier  of  a  vast 
wilderness  half  a  century  before,  had  served  him  for 
army  headquarters.  Now  it  was  rich  and  powerful,  the 
seat  of  government  of  New  York  State,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  16,000  people.  Ex-Governor  DeWitt  Clinton, 
of  Erie  Canal  fame,  accompanied  Lafayette  to  Troy, 
where  the  citizens  bore  the  General  upon  their  shoulders, 
and  the  fair  members  of  the  Troy  Female  Seminary 
wept  tears  of  joy  over  him. 

Shortly  after  his  return  to  New  York,  Lafayette  set 
out  upon  his  third  excursion,  this  time  through  the  States 
of  the  South  and  the  West.  Like  the  New  England  and 
the  Hudson  River  journeys,  this,  too,  was  marked  by  a 
succession  of  festivities  and  of  reunions  of  old  com- 
panions-in-arms,  at  many  places  memories  of  the  Revolu- 
tion and  of  his  friend  Washington  crowding  upon  him. 

202 


DEAF  AND  DUMB  INSTITUTE  AT  HARTFORD,  CONN.,  WHOSE 
INMATES  GREETED  LAFAYETTE 
{Ridgway) 


LAFAYETTE  AT  THE  TOMB  OF  FRANKLIN 
(Wood) 


GENERAL  LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  TO  AMERICA 

At  Bergen,  in  New  Jersey,  a  cane  made  from  a  branch 
of  the  apple  tree  under  which  he  had  once  breakfasted 
with  Washington  was  presented  to  him :  Princeton  Uni- 
versity made  him  a  member  of  one  of  its  societies :  and 
at  Trenton,  an  elaborate  entertainment  befitting  the  his- 
toric character  of  the  place  was  in  waiting. 

Upon  his  approach  to  Philadelphia,  it  seemed  to  Lafa- 
yette that  the  entire  population  of  the  city  had  come  out 
to  meet  him.  He  drove  past  several  groups  of  men 
representing  the  different  trades,  in  the  center  of  each 
corps  being  a  workshop  in  which  the  workmen  were 
busy  at  their  employments,  each  shop  bearing  a  banner 
decorated  with  portraits  of  Washington  and  Lafayette, 
and  the  legend,  "To  their  wisdom  and  courage  we  owe 
the  free  exercise  of  our  industry."  As  Lafayette  passed 
the  shop  of  the  printers,  a  freshly  printed  "Ode  to  Lafa- 
yette" was  tossed  into  his  coach  and  copies  were  scattered 
among  the  crowd.  After  driving  through  thirteen 
triumphal  arches,  Lafayette  found  himself  in  front  of 
Independence  Hall,  where,  at  the  foot  of  the  statue  of 
Washington,  he  received  a  welcome  to  the  city  of  Penn 
— the  city  in  which,  in  the  year  1777,  he  had  pledged  him- 
self to  devote  his  life  and  his  fortune  to  a  cause  then  al- 
most desperate. 

With  his  usual  eagerness  to  look  upon  the  changes 
which  nearly  half  a  century  had  brought  to  the  Ameri- 
can cities,  Lafayette  spent  much  time  apart  from  the 

203 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

gayeties  prepared  for  him  in  visits  to  the  public  institu- 
tions of  Philadelphia.  He  was  interested  in  the  Library 
building,  in  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital  and  the  United 
States  Bank,  all  of  which  we  have  already  looked  upon 
in  the  illustrations  of  a  former  chapter.  The  pictures 
of  the  Dam  and  Waterworks  on  the  Schuylkill  River 
present  the  identical  sight  which  Lafayette  drove  out  to 
see,  and  over  the  mechanical  skill  of  which  he  marveled. 
Remembering  Lafayette's  affection  for  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin, the  English  potters  printed  sets  of  dishes  with  a 
fanciful  scene  supposed  to  represent  the  French  hero 
mourning  at  the  tomb  of  his  old  Philadelphia  friend. 

Upon  the  battlefield  of  Brandywine,  Lafayette  pointed 
out  to  his  son  the  exact  spot  where  the  British  army 
crossed  the  river  in  1777,  and  the  principal  places  where 
the  patriot  army  had  maneuvered  and  fought  and  where, 
when  wounded,  his  own  blood  had  been  shed.  The  pic- 
ture of  Gilpin's  Mills,  in  another  chapter,  was  taken  upon 
the  estate  of  Gideon  Gilpin,  at  whose  home  Lafayette 
was  cared  for  when  wounded,  and  where  upon  this  visit 
he  found  Mr.  Gilpin,  his  former  host,  an  aged  and  in- 
valid man. 

Baltimore  greeted  her  distinguished  guest  by  sending 
out  to  meet  him  at  Fort  McHenry  a  company  of  her  sol- 
diers who,  in  the  War  of  181 2,  had  gallantly  defended 
that  fortress  from  the  British  guns.  As  Lafayette  ap- 
proached the  gates  of  Baltimore,  twenty-four  young 

204 


GENERAL  LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  TO  AMERICA 

women,  armed  with  lances  inscribed  with  the  names  of 
the  twenty-four  States,  crowned  him  with  laurel.  Views 
of  early  Baltimore  which  have  been  shown  include  the 
Battle  Monument,  the  Exchange,  the  University,  Alms- 
house, etc.  While  in  Baltimore,  Lafayette  attended 
the  annual  Fair  of  the  Farmers  of  Maryland,  and  dis- 
tributed the  prizes  for  the  best  livestock,  he  himself  be- 
ing presented  with  a  young  bull,  some  heifers,  wild 
turkeys  and  hogs  for  his  estate  in  France.  At  the  So- 
ciety's banquet  Lafayette  proposed  the  following  sug- 
gestive toast:  "To  the  seed  of  American  liberty  trans- 
planted to  other  shores — choked  until  now,  but  not  de- 
stroyed, by  European  weeds;  may  it  germinate  and 
spring  up  anew,  more  vigorous,  and  less  degenerate,  and 
cover  the  soil  of  the  two  hemispheres." 

From  Baltimore  to  Washington  the  Nation's  Guest 
traveled  by  carriage,  and  entered  the  capital  city  accom- 
panied with  a  long  escort.  They  proceeded  at  once  to 
the  Capitol,  where  Congress  formally  welcomed  them, 
then  to  the  President's  House,  where  President  Monroe 
presented  them  to  the  members  of  his  official  and  domes- 
tic families.  In  his  wanderings  about  the  city  Lafayette 
found  many  evidences  of  the  disastrous  British  occupa- 
tion in  the  War  of  1812,  the  President's  House  and  the 
Capitol  having  been  since  rebuilt.  The  remainder  of 
the  winter  of  1824-5,  with  the  exception  of  an  excursion 
to  Yorktown,  saw  the  nation's  guests  in  Washington, 

205 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

feted  and  honored.  The  scene  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives upon  the  occasion  of  Lafayette's  introduction 
was  one  long  remembered — the  members  of  the  Senate 
were  also  assembled  in  the  House,  and  as  Lafayette  en- 
tered and  passed  to  the  center  of  the  Hall,  all  rose  and 
listened  to  Henry  Clay's  words  of  greeting.  The  line 
"Republicans  are  not  always  ungrateful,"  which  appears 
on  one  old  jug,  has  reference  to  the  act  of  Congress  in 
presenting  Lafayette,  in  recognition  of  his  services  to 
the  cause  of  liberty,  the  sum  of  $20,000  and  an  estate 
of  240,000  acres  of  our  public  lands.  The  famous  Mon- 
roe Doctrine  was  discussed  in  Congress  that  winter,  and 
the  French  guests  were  interested  listeners  to  the  de- 
bates. 

Lafayette  sailed  down  the  Potomac  to  pay  a  visit  to 
Mount  Vernon,  the  former  home  of  Washington.  Three 
nephews  of  Washington  greeted  the  French  party  and 
welcomed  them  to  the  estate,  at  the  same  time  present- 
ing Lafayette  with  a  ring  containing  locks  of  the  hair 
of  their  illustrious  uncle  and  his  wife,  and  engraved 
with  the  words,  "Pater  Patriae,  Mount  Vernon,  1776 
and  1824."  George  Washington  Lafayette  was  much 
affected  as  he  strolled  about  the  estate  which  twenty- 
eight  years  before  had  been  his  home  for  two  years, 
while  terror  reigned  in  France  and  while  his  father  was 
a  prisoner  of  state  in  Austria.  A  visit  to  the  Tomb  of 
Washington  ended  their  stay  at  Mount  Vernon.     Can 

206 


GENERAL  LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  TO  AMERICA 

we  not  picture  to  ourselves  the  little  procession  as  it 
wound  its  slow  way  from  the  mansion  to  the  cypress 
g^ove  not  far  away,  where  stood  the  Tomb  so  sacred 
to  their  eyes?  Lafayette  entered  the  enclosure  alone 
and  returned  with  his  face  wet  with  tears ;  then  he  took 
his  son  by  the  hand,  and  together  they  passed  through 
the  gate  and  laid  wreaths  upon  the  last  resting  places  of 
their  old  friends,  George  and  Martha  Washington. 
Slowly,  thoughtfully,  the  little  band  found  its  way  down 
to  the  river  bank,  each  with  a  branch  of  cypress  in  his 
hand,  and  in  silence  they  boarded  the  waiting  vessel. 
The  fanciful  view  with  which  the  English  potters  com- 
memorated this  solemn  scene,  a  man  in  foreign  dress 
seated  before  a  tomb  marked  "Washington,"  is  quite 
out  of  keeping  with  the  setting  of  the  original  occur- 
rence. 

Yorktown  awaited  its  hero  with  banners  flying  and 
streets  thronged  with  people  gathered  from  all  the  coun- 
tryside. Under  an  arch  erected  upon  the  site  of  the 
English  redoubt  which  he  had  formerly  carried  at  the 
head  of  the  American  troops,  Lafayette,  crowned  with 
laurel,  addressed  the  assemblage  in  the  name  of  the 
"Sons  of  the  Mountains."  He  reviewed  Revolutionary 
days  and  talked  over  old  campaigns  with  former  com- 
panions-in-arms,  one  of  whom  affectionately  entreated 
him  not  to  return  to  Europe,  but  to  remain  in  America 
where  "in  every  heart  you  have  a  friend."     By  chance, 

207 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Lafayette  was  lodged  in  Yorktown  in  the  very  house 
which  CornwalHs  had  occupied  forty-three  years  before, 
and,  while  rummaging  in  the  cellar,  one  of  his  men  came 
upon  a  large  chest  of  candles  which  had  been  left  there 
since  the  English  officer's  time.  The  candles  were  car- 
ried to  the  camp  upon  the  Common  and  arranged  in  a 
large  circle,  and  to  the  light  of  their  burning  dancing 
went  on  all  the  evening — a  ball  in  Yorktown  in  1824  by 
the  light  of  CornwalHs'  candles  being  so  unique  an  occur- 
rence that  the  old  soldiers  were  unwilling  to  retire  until 
the  candles  were  all  consumed.  Small  English  cream 
jugs  of  copper  luster  ware  picture  the  hero  of  Yorktown 
with  two  angels  about  to  place  a  crown  upon  his  brow, 
the  reverse  of  the  jug  (shown  in  a  previous  chapter) 
bearing  the  scene  of  the  surrender  of  the  English  sword. 

Two  ex-presidents  of  the  United  States  were  at  the 
time  of  Lafayette's  visit  upon  their  estates  in  Virginia 
— Thomas  Jefferson  at  Monticello,  and  James  Madison 
at  Montpelier.  Can  we  not  picture  to  ourselves  the  wel- 
come which  awaited  their  old  French  friend  at  these 
homes,  and  the  long  visits,  far  into  the  night,  when  by- 
gone issues  of  the  nation  were  recalled,  and  the  newly 
arisen  problem  of  slavery  was  debated  ? 

In  response  to  the  urgent  appeal  of  the  people  of  the 
South  and  the  West,  Lafayette  set  out  from  Washington 
upon  a  tour  of  those  sections  of  the  country.  His  party 
traveled  by  carriage  and  horses,  often,  when  the  roads 

208 


iMve,  and  »is  di  ''" 


LAFAYETTE  PITCHER 
"The  Nation's  Guest" 
"As  Brave  and  as  Disinterested  as  Washington" 


LAFAYETTE  CROWNED   AT  YORKTOWN 
(The  reverse  of  this  specimen  is  shown  in  Chapter  IX) 


GENERAL  LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  TO  AMERICA 

were  impassable,  by  horses  alone,  and  at  times  they  were 
obliged  to  cross  swollen  streams  over  trunks  of  fallen 
trees,  in  this  way  making  a  slow  and  difficult  passage 
through  the  pine  forests  and  sandy  plains  of  North  and 
South  Carolina ;  upon  the  larger  rivers  and  the  lakes  they 
took  advantage  of  the  newly  inaugurated  steamboat 
travel.  At  Camden,  South  Carolina,  Lafayette  assisted 
in  dedicating  a  monument  to  Baron  de  Kalb,  he  who,  like 
Lafayette,  had  come  from  Europe  to  America  in  the 
cause  of  liberty.  At  Savannah,  Georgia,  the  citizens 
were  awaiting  Lafayette's  arrival  to  unveil  monuments 
to  General  Greene,  a  Revolutionary  hero  of  the  South, 
and  to  General  Pulaski,  a  Polander  who  had  given  his 
life  for  the  freedom  of  the  nation.  After  a  night  spent 
at  an  Indian  Agency  in  the  heart  of  the  Georgia  forest, 
where  the  Indians  called  Lafayette  the  "White  Father" 
and  "A  Messenger  from  the  Great  Spirit,"  the  party 
pressed  on  to  the  Alabama  River,  where  they  exchanged 
carriages  for  a  steamboat  which  carried  them  to  New 
Orleans.  In  New  Orleans,  originally  settled  by  French 
people,  the  greetings,  "Vive  la  liberte,  Vive  Tami  de 
I'Amerique,  Vive  Lafayette,"  were  pleasant  and  familiar 
sounds. 

Up  the  Mississippi  River,  bordered  with  plantations 
and  thick  forests  and  bristling  with  dangerous  snags, 
they  sailed  to  St.  Louis,  the  western  limit  of  our  terri- 
tory.   Thence,  turning  their  faces  eastward,  they  took  a 

209 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

steamer  bound  up  the  Ohio  River  to  Pittsburgh,  Penn- 
sylvania. At  the  village  of  Erie,  on  Lake  Erie,  memo- 
ries of  Commodore  Perry's  victory  awaited  them  in  a 
banquet  spread  under  a  tent  made  of  sails  of  English 
ships  which  Perry  had  captured  in  the  Battle  of  Lake 
Erie.  At  Buffalo,  Lafayette  met  the  Indian  chief  Red 
Jacket,  whom  he  had  known  in  1784.  "Time  has 
changed  us  much,"  said  Lafayette.  "Oh,"  cried  Red 
Jacket,  "time  has  not  been  so  severe  with  you  as  with 
me :  he  has  left  you  a  smooth  face  and  a  head  well  cov- 
ered with  hair,  while  I — look!"  And,  taking  off  his 
handkerchief,  he  showed  a  forehead  entirely  bald. 
Lafayette,  to  soften  the  feelings  of  the  aged  chief,  then 
removed  his  blond  wig  and  exhibited  to  the  astonished 
Indian  a  poll  as  bare  as  his  own. 

After  a  short  visit  to  Niagara  Falls,  Lafayette 
hastened  his  journey  through  New  York  State  by  the 
Erie  Canal,  so  as  to  reach  Boston  in  time  to  assist  in  the 
celebration  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of 
Bunker  Hill.^  He  was  the  honored  guest  upon  that 
famous  17th  day  of  June,  1825.  Never  had  the  old  city 
seen  such  a  procession,  17,000  men  in  line!  Two  hun- 
dred officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  and  forty 
veterans  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  were  among  those 
who  filed  from  the  Common  across  the  river  to  the  site 

*  A  view  of  the  Monument  which  he  helped  to  dedicate  has  been  presented 
in  a  previous  chapter. 

210 


GENERAL  LAFAYETTE'S  VISIT  TO  AMERICA 

of  the  historic  battle.  Lafayette  was  the  hero  of  the 
day. 

"Fortunate,  fortunate  man,"  said  Daniel  Webster  in 
that  immortal  address  which  every  school  boys  knows, 
"Heaven  saw  fit  to  ordain  that  the  electric  spark  of  lib- 
erty should  be  conducted,  through  you,  from  the  Old 
World  to  the  New." 

Lafayette  reached  New  York  in  time  to  celebrate  the 
forty-ninth  anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, then  he  went  to  Washington,  to  sail  thence  for 
home.  Upon  September  8,  1825,  the  ship  Brandy- 
wine  with  the  French  guests  on  board,  sailed  out  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Potomac  River  towards  the  center  of  a 
brilliant  rainbow,  one  end  of  which  rested  upon  the  shore 
of  Maryland  and  the  other  upon  that  of  Virginia — the 
last  triumphal  arch  raised  in  America  in  honor  of  the 
great  Frenchman. 

Lafayette  returned  to  La  Grange,  his  estate  near 
Paris,  and  there,  surrounded  with  his  children  and  his 
grandchildren,  he  passed  in  peace  and  quiet  the  re- 
maining ten  years  of  his  life.  La  Grange,  as  the  illus- 
trations show,  is  a  feudal  chateau  of  stone,  three  stories 
high  and  flanked  with  five  round  towers.  The  entrance 
was  once  over  a  drawbridge  spanning  a  deep  moat,  but 
the  moat  has  been  filled  in  on  two  sides.  The  estate  is 
beautifully  laid  out  with  ancient  woodlands,  ponds  and 
gardens,  broad  roadways  winding  through  avenues  of 

211 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

apple  and  chestnut  trees.  Lafayette's  library  is  in  the 
tower,  and  there  visitors  are  shown  the  mementoes  which 
he  carried  home  from  his  famous  visit  to  America. 

"The  vain  wish  has  sometimes  been  indulged,"  said 
Henry  Clay  in  his  speech  of  welcome  to  Lafayette  "that 
Providence  would  allow  the  patriot,  after  death,  to  re- 
turn to  his  country  and  to  contemplate  the  changes  which 
had  taken  place — to  view  the  forests  felled,  the  cities 
built,  the  mountains  leveled,  the  canals  cut,  the  highways 
constructed,  the  progress  of  the  arts,  the  advancement 
of  learning,  the  increase  of  population." 

To  General  Lafayette  in  this  visit  was  given  the  rare 
fortune  to  realize  the  full  measure  of  this  prayer. 

It  is  of  interest  to  add  that  at  the  time  of  the  present 
writing,  the  great  European  conflict  being  at  its  height, 
the  memory  of  General  Lafayette  and  of  the  services 
which  he  rendered  to  the  patriot  cause  in  time  of  its 
greatest  need  is  honored  by  the  establishment  of  a  "Lafa- 
yette Fund"  by  the  people  of  the  United  States,  with 
which  to  contribute  supplies  for  the  soldiers  of  France 
fighting,  in  their  turn,  for  the  existence  of  their  Repub- 
lic. 


012 


THE  ERIE  CANAL  AT  BUFFALO 
{R.  S.) 


CHAPTER  XIV 

OPENING  OF  THE  ERIE  CANAL 

ALMOST  as  great  in  number  as  the  cities  which 
disputed  the  honor  of  Homer's  birthplace,  were 
the  claimants  of  the  original  idea  of  the  Erie  Canal. 
George  Washington,  making  a  tour  of  New  York  State 
shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  was 
perhaps  the  first  one  to  suggest  a  waterway  as  a  means 
of  more  ready  communication  between  the  Eastern 
States  and  the  vast  rich  lands  of  the  little  known  West ; 
but  actual  work  was  not  begun,  however,  until  many 
years  later,  after  much  heated  debate  over  the  subject 
of  routes  and  the  manner  of  building.  Finally,  the 
Erie  Canal,  as  brought  to  a  successful  construction 
through  the  enterprise  of  Governor  DeWitt  Clinton  and 
at  the  expense  of  New  York  State  alone,  astonished 
the  world,  for  it  was  an  undertaking  of  such  magnitude 
that  the  like  of  it  had  hitherto  been  accomplished  only 
by  the  greatest  empires  of  the  Old  World  and  by  means 
of  the  labor  of  slaves. 

It  is  but  natural,  therefore,  that  the  unique  spectacle 
of  the  celebration  of  the  opening  of  the  great  waterway, 
upon  a  stage  stretching  from  Buffalo  to  New  York, 

213 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

before  an  audience  composed  of  a  large  part  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  State,  should  appeal  to  English  artists  in 
search  of  American  views,  and  that  their  sketches  should 
be  used  to  decorate  the  pottery  of  Staffordshire.  It  is 
with  pride  mingled  with  wonder  and  no  little  amuse- 
ment that  one  reviews  the  story  of  the  opening  cele- 
bration, as  it  is  recorded  in  the  old-china  illustrations. 

The  celebration  began  at  Buffalo,  the  junction  of  the 
canal  and  Lake  Erie,  continued  at  each  little  hamlet 
and  city  along  the  banks,  culminating  at  last  in  a  blaze 
of  glory  and  patriotism  as  the  waters  from  the  Great 
Lakes  were  mingled  with  the  Atlantic  in  New  York 
harbor.  No  resplendent  Doge  of  Venice  standing  upon 
the  prow  of  his  gayly  bedecked  Bucentaur  and  casting 
the  jeweled  ring  into  the  waters  of  the  Adriatic,  thereby 
symbolizing  the  marriage  of  Venice  to  the  sea,  was  ever 
more  proud  than  was  Governor  Clinton  as,  standing 
upon  a  primitive  canal  boat  draped  with  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  he  poured  a  barrel  of  Lake  Erie  water  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  thereby  accomplishing  the  union  of  our 
West  and  East. 

The  first  illustration  presents  a  view  of  the  harbor 
entrance  of  the  canal  at  Buffalo,  with  sail  boats  in  the 
bay,  low  warehouses  on  the  dock,  and  a  packet  boat 
upon  the  canal,  which  sailors  are  tying  to  the  warf. 
The  study  of  this  scene  kindles  one's  imagination,  and 
in  fancy  he  hears  the  pealing  of  the  bells  at  nine  o'clock 

214 


GOVERNOR   CLINTON— JEFFERSON— WASHINGTON 
Inside  of  Vegetable  Dish 
(Stevenson) 


THOMAS    JEFFERSON— LAFAYETTE— CLINTON 
Inside  of  Vegetable  Dish 
{Stevenson) 


THE  AQUEDUCT  BRIDGE  AT 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. 

(Wood) 


THE  AQUEDUCT  BRIDGE  OVER  THE  GENESEE  RIVER  AT 

ROCHESTER,  N.  Y. 

Vegetable  Dish 


OPENING  OF  THE  ERIE  CANAL 

upon  that  beautiful  morning  of  October  26,  1825,  and 
he  beholds  the  throngs  of  people  gathering  at  the  Court- 
house. After  prayer  has  been  offered  and  speeches 
have  been  made,  the  procession  marches  to  the  dock 
where  the  flotilla  is  in  waiting,  ready  to  make  the  long 
voyage  down  the  canal.  With  something  akin  to  awe 
one  listens  to  the  sound  of  that  reverberating  cannon- 
shot,  which,  fired  at  Buffalo  and  repeated  in  succession 
by  cannon  stationed  along  the  entire  length  of  the  canal, 
proclaims  in  one  hour  and  twenty  minutes  to  the  peo- 
ple of  New  York  City  that  the  little  fleet  is  under  way. 
Four  gayly  bedecked  horses  then  proudly  prance  along 
the  tow-path  drawing  the  canal  boat  Seneca  Chief, 
which  bears  Governor  Clinton  and  his  associates,  fol- 
lowed by  the  canal  boats  Superior,  Commodore  Perry, 
and  Buffalo,  At  the  end  of  the  procession  is  Noah's 
Ark,  from  the  "unbuilt  city  of  Ararat,"  having  on  board 
a  bear,  two  eagles,  two  fawns,  birds  and  fish,  besides 
two  Indian  boys  in  native  costume — all  taken  along  to 
gratify  the  curiosity  of  the  effete  New  Yorkers  in  re- 
gard to  the  wild  West. 

One  smiles  at  the  allegorical  picture,  painted  in  honor 
of  the  occasion,  which  hangs  in  the  cabin  of  the  Seneca 
Chief,  for  in  it  may  be  seen  Hercules  resting  upon  his 
favorite  club  after  his  labor  of  finishing  the  canal.  Gov- 
ernor Clinton  in  a  Roman  toga  standing  by  his  side, 
gazing  upon  the  placid  water  and  inviting  Neptune  and 

215 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

his  Naiads,  who  coyly  hang  back  as  if  hesitating  to  ap- 
proach domains  not  theirs  by  right,  to  enter  through 
the  open  lock.  Upon  the  deck  stand  two  brightly 
painted  kegs  marked  "Lake  Erie" — the  water  from  the 
lake  which  is  to  be  used  in  the  celebration  in  New 
York.  A  quantity  of  bird's-eye  maple  and  cedar  wood 
is  stored  below  deck  for  the  purpose  of  making  boxes  and 
medals  with  which  to  commemorate  the  coming  event. 
While  the  little  flotilla  proceeds  on  its  way  to  the  accom- 
paniment of  gay  music  and  the  salutes  of  guns,  the  citi- 
zens of  Buffalo  repair  to  the  Eagle  tavern  for  a  banquet 
and  speeches,  the  day  ending  with  a  grand  ball  where, 
an  eye-witness  tells  us,  "beauty,  vieing  conspicuously 
with  wit,  contributed  to  the  enlivening  enjoyment  of  the 
scene." 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  are  no  illustrations  of 
the  canal  at  Lockport,  for  in  that  village  is  one  of  the 
most  difficult  and  picturesque  pieces  of  engineering  to 
be  found  the  entire  length  of  the  canal — the  great  locks 
which  lift  and  lower  the  boats.  As  the  little  flotilla 
passes  through  the  locks  the  passengers  are  greeted  with 
salutes  of  a  cannon  which  Commodore  Perry  thirteen 
years  before  had  used  in  his  gallant  Battle  of  Lake 
Erie,  here  adding  to  its  service  a  record  of  peaceful 
achievement.  The  first  day  of  the  celebration  ends  at 
Lockport  with  fireworks  and  illuminations,  and  a  ban- 
quet at  the  tavern  where  the  guests  are  introduced  to 

216 


OPENING  OF  THE  ERIE  CANAL 

a  local  celebrity — the  man  who  planted  the  first  orchard 
and  built  the  first  frame  barn  west  of  Utica. 

A  number  of  pieces  of  pottery  record  the  scenes  of 
the  celebration  in  Rochester.  In  that  city  the  canal  is 
obliged  to  pass  over  the  Genesee  River,  and  the  neces- 
sary aqueduct  is  a  marvel  of  construction  for  that  early 
time. 

Rochester  was  an  important  city  of  western  New 
York  in  the  year  1825,  and  had  materially  aided  and 
encouraged  the  canal  project,  therefore  her  prepara- 
tions for  the  celebration  of  the  opening  have  been  elab- 
orate. But  alas !  rain  is  pouring  down  upon  the  crowds 
waiting  along  the  banks  of  the  canal  for  the  arrival 
of  the  fleet,  eager  to  catch  the  first  glimpse  as  it  comes 
out  of  the  West.  When  at  last  it  arrives,  the  following 
dialogue  takes  place  between  the  Young  Lion  of  the 
West,  the  Rochester  boat  stationed  at  the  entrance  of 
the  aqueduct  to  challenge  all  newcomers,  and  the  flagship 
Seneca  Chief: 

"Who  comes  there  ?" 

"Your  brothers  from  the  West  on  the  waters  of  the 
Great  Lakes." 

"By  what  means  have  they  been  diverted  so  far  from 
their  natural  course  ?" 

"By  the  channel  of  the  Great  Erie  Canal." 

"By  whose  authority  and  by  whom  was  a  work  of 
such  magnitude  accomplished?" 

217 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

"By  the  authority  and  the  enterprise  of  the  patriotic 
people  of  the  State  of  New  York." 

After  the  surprising  ignorance  of  Rochester  has  been 
thus  dispelled,  the  Young  Lion  gives  way,  and  the  flo- 
tilla with  the  Governor  in  full  view  floats  into  the  basin 
amidst  the  cheers  of  the  wondering  crowds.  There 
follows  a  mass  meeting  in  the  church,  with  appropriate 
speeches,  and  at  the  hotel  are  held  a  banquet  and  a  ball. 
The  next  morning  the  fleet,  adding  to  its  train  the 
Young  Lion  of  the  West,  bearing  the  first  citizens  of 
Rochester  and  carrying  wolves,  foxes,  raccoons  and 
eagles  from  the  forests,  and  Rochester-made  cedar  tubs, 
continues  its  journey. 

The  china  which  illustrates  the  canal  scenes  of  Roch- 
ester are  beautiful  specimens  of  the  early  Staffordshire 
potters'  art.  Upon  it  is  preserved  a  view  of  the  old 
aqueduct  which  to-day  is  but  a  memory,  the  aqueduct 
scene  being  sometimes  combined  with  views  of  prom- 
inent American  buildings,  or  with  those  of  castles  and 
landscapes  of  England.  In  the  border  of  the  vegetable 
dish  are  medallion  portraits  of  George  Washington, 
General  Lafayette,  DeWitt  Clinton  and  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson. General  Lafayette  had  visited  many  of  the 
canal  cities  while  he  was  the  nation's  guest  but  a  few 
months  before  the  celebration,  and  therefore  he  is  given 
a  place  in  the  illustration ;  while  Washington  and  Jeffer- 

218 


ERIE  CANAL  AT  ALBANY 
(Wood) 


AQUEDUCT  BRIDGE  AT  LITTLE  FALLS 
(Wood) 


UTICA  INSCRIPTION  PLATE 
{Unknown  Maker) 


DE  WITT  CLINTON  EULOGY  PLATE 
(  Unknown  Maker) 


OPENING  OF  THE  ERIE  CANAL 

son,  it  is  claimed  by  some,  appear  through  ignorance  of 
the  potters  in  regard  to  the  dates  of  our  political  his- 
tory. 

Upon  reaching  the  town  of  Syracuse,  the  party  is 
again  greeted  with  speeches  and  a  banquet.  At  Rome, 
they  are  forced  to  call  to  mind  that  Fourth  of  July  of 
the  year  1817,  the  day  the  first  ground  for  the  section 
of  the  canal  lying  between  Utica  and  Rochester  was 
broken  at  this  place  by  Governor  Clinton.  The  Romans, 
for  whom  the  present  ceremony  is  one  of  mingled  emo- 
tions, owing  to  the  placing  of  the  new  waterway  out- 
side the  limits  of  their  town  instead  of  inside  it  as  they 
had  wished,  undertake  to  convey  their  complex  feelings 
in  the  manner  of  their  reception.  The  citizens  form 
in  line  as  the  little  fleet  comes  in  sight,  and,  to  the  sound 
of  muffled  drums,  they  convey  a  black  barrel  filled  with 
water  from  the  old  canal  and  empty  its  contents  into  the 
new  one  just  completed.  Having  thus  figuratively  dis- 
posed of  their  chagrin,  they  march  in  quick  time  back 
to  the  tavern  and  forget  their  disappointment  in  hos- 
pitable festivities. 

The  "Utica  Inscription"  illustration  commemorates 
the  opening  of  the  section  of  the  canal  between  Utica 
and  Rochester,  the  lines  which  fill  the  center  recounting 
the  usual  list  of  benefits  which  this  waterway  conferred 
upon  the  villages  through  which  it  passed : 

"Utica,  a  village  in  the  State  of  New  York,  30  years 

219 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

since  a  wilderness,  now  inferior  to  none  in  the  western 
section  of  the  State  in  population,  wealth,  commercial 
enterprise,  active  industry  and  civil  improvement." 

The  border  pictures  canal  boats,  aqueducts  and  locks, 
framed  in  graceful  medallions.  It  is  Sabbath  day  when 
the  flotilla  reaches  Utica;  the  company  is  conducted  to 
services  in  the  meeting  house,  and  later  to  the  old  Acad- 
emy to  listen  to  rousing  speeches  and  songs. 

The  illustrations  which  picture  the  aqueduct  at  Little 
Falls,  with  the  Mohawk  River  raging  underneath,  seem, 
like  the  Rochester  aqueduct  scenes,  to  have  made  strong 
appeal  to  the  English  potters,  for  they  too  are  accom- 
panied with  portraits  of  our  four  canal  worthies,  with 
sketches  of  American  buildings  or  with  "Picturesque 
Landskips"  and  "Romantick  Gentlemen's  Seats"  of  old 
England.  At  this  place  occurs  another  celebration  of 
welcome — lengthy  orations  and  odes  of  congratulation 
delivered  amid  bonfires  and  illuminations  upon  the  banks 
of  the  Mohawk  River. 

Leaving  Little  Falls,  the  gayly  bedecked  flotilla  floats 
serenely  along  the  man-made  river,  the  guests  seated 
upon  the  open  decks  (as  quaint  views  of  the  celebration 
preserved  in  old  prints  record)  enjoying  the  scenery 
and  returning  the  huzzas  of  greeting  from  the  people 
who  line  the  banks.  Whenever  they  pass  through  ham- 
lets too  small  to  offer  a  festival,  the  "yeomanry,"  an 

220 


OPENING  OF  THE  ERIE  CANAL 

old  chronicle  states,  "gathered  at  the  banks  of  the  canal 
and  cheered  the  passing  spectacle." 

Upon  November  2  the  fleet  reaches  Albany,  and  here 
a  Grand  Fete  befitting  the  Capital  city  of  the  Empire 
State  awaits  the  distinguished  guests — the  illustrations 
picturing  the  "Entrance  of  the  Canal  at  Albany"  show- 
ing the  very  arches  which  were  erected  for  the  celebra- 
tion. The  two  vessels  at  the  dock,  one  a  freight  boat 
and  the  other  a  passenger  packet  boat,  give  a  clear  idea 
of  canal  traffic  and  travel  in  the  early  days ;  while  in  the 
background  the  home  of  one  of  Albany's  prominent 
citizens  may  be  seen.  The  guests  repair  to  the  Capitol 
building  and  listen  to  eulogies  and  to  odes,  and,  as  they 
pass  through  the  streets,  they  gaze  upon  large  banners 
and  transparencies  which  blaze  the  tidings  that  "The 
Great  Work  is  Done";  at  the  evening  performance  in 
the  theater  there  is  a  "Canal  Scene,"  wherein  are  shown 
a  real  canal  and  locks  and  horses  and  passing  boats. 
At  Albany  the  little  fleet  enters  the  Hudson  River  and 
is  taken  in  tow  by  the  new  steamboat,  the  Chancellor 
Livingston  (pictured  in  a  later  chapter)  heading  the 
procession  as  admiral  and  followed  by  twelve  vessels 
of  various  types.  A  sympathetic  writer  of  that  time 
compares  the  spectacle  to  a  "fleet  from  the  dominion 
of  the  Fairies,"  adding  that  Alexander  of  Macedon 
when  he  descended  the  Indus  was  not  more  proud  than 

221 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

were  "these  brave  Americans  sailing  down  the  Hudson 
River."  The  population  of  the  villages  along  the  banks 
give  signals  of  greeting  as  the  fleet  passes  by,  and,  when 
darkness  falls,  lights  and  fireworks  from  the  vessels  re- 
spond to  the  fireworks  and  illuminations  on  shore. 

At  daylight  on  November  4,  New  York  is  reached, 
and  a  three-day  celebration  takes  place,  the  setting  of 
which  may  be  in  part  recalled  by  a  study  of  the  illustra- 
tions. In  a  previous  chapter  a  number  of  New  York's 
important  buildings  of  that  day  have  been  shown — 
Park  Theater,  Scudder's  Museum,  the  Almshouse,  Saint 
Paul's  Chapel,  Columbia  College,  the  City  Hall,  where 
a  public  gathering  was  held  and  speeches  were  made  in 
honor  of  the  canal  opening,  and  Castle  Garden  and  the 
Battery — the  site  of  the  closing  canal  festivities.  But 
many  of  the  scenes  of  entertainment  of  those  three  days 
are  but  memory  pictures,  and  cause  us  to  regret  that 
more  of  them  were  not  secured  by  the  English  potter- 
historians.  For  what  a  pity  to  neglect  the  pictorial 
possibilities  of  the  marvelous  parade  through  the 
streets;  of  the  Grand  Canal  Ball,  with  its  supper  table 
adorned  with  a  miniature  canal  boat  of  maple  sugar 
floating  in  a  pool  of  Lake  Erie  water;  of  the  ceremony 
at  the  harbor  where  the  "Lord  of  the  Seas"  wedded  the 
"Lady  of  the  Lakes,"  by  pouring  the  water  brought  from 
Lake  Erie  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  the  nuptial  rites  be- 
ing completed  by  sending  a  keg  of  sea- water,  "Nep- 

222 


ERIE  CANAL  AT  LITTLE  FALLS:  HORSES 

ON  TOW  PATH 

{Jackson) 


ENTRANCE  OF  ERIE  CANAL  AT  ALBANY 


OPENING  OF  THE  ERIE  CANAL 

tune's  Return  to  Pan,"  from  the  ocean  to  Buffalo,  to  be 
emptied  into  Lake  Erie. 

In  this  manner  was  celebrated  the  completion  of  the 
"big  ditch,"  which  skeptics  declared  "would  be  filled 
with  the  tears  of  posterity,"  but  which,  instead,  has 
so  amply  justified  the  sentiment  inscribed  upon  the 
"Eulogy"  plates : 

"The  Grand  Erie  Canal,  a  splendid  monument  of  the 
enterprise  and  resources  of  the  State  of  New  York,  in- 
debted for  its  early  commencement  and  rapid  comple- 
tion to  the  active  energies,  preeminent  talents  and  en- 
lightened policy  of  DeWitt  Clinton,  late  Governor  of 
the  State." 

The  journey  from  Buffalo  to  New  York  was  made 
possible  in  the  steam  packets  upon  the  canal  in  six  days, 
at  a  cost  of  about  eighteen  dollars.  Commerce  was  at 
once  stimulated  by  the  new  and  quicker  route  to  the 
sea  ports ;  travel  was  made  more  convenient  for  curious 
foreign  tourists  who  crossed  the  sea  to  make  the  grand 
tour  of  the  new  country,  and  to  look  upon  the  famous 
cataract  of  Niagara;  emigration  was  pushed  farther 
westward  along  the  waterway,  causing  new  settlements 
to  be  established;  and  a  broader  opportunity  for  educa- 
tion was  opened,  the  young  men  and  women  of  the 
western  sections  being  able  by  means  of  the  canal  to 
attend  the  schools  and  colleges  of  the  Eastern  States. 

But  the  rapid  rate  of  canal  travel  was  long  looked 

223 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

upon  by  conservative  persons  as  a  fearful  danger,  and 
one  to  be  risked  only  after  serious  and  anxious  thoughts 
of  the  future.  A  certain  old  gentleman  of  that  day,  after 
he  had  completed  a  canal  journey  in  safety,  penned  these 
lines  to  a  friend:  "Commending  my  soul  to  God,  and 
asking  His  defense  from  danger,  I  stepped  on  board  the 
canal  boat  and  was  soon  flying  toward  Utica." 


Ba4 


CITY  OF  PITTSBURGH,  PA. 

("Pennsylvania"  Steamboat) 
{Clews) 


CHAPTER  XV 

INTRODUCTION   OF   NEW    MODES   OF  TRAVEL 

THE  stories  of  Colonial  America  embodied  in  the 
decorations  of  old  blue-china  conclude  with  a  re- 
view of  the  new  modes  of  travel  introduced  by  our  fore- 
fathers, for,  although  theirs  was  the  leisurely  day  of 
the  stage  coach  and  the  sailing  vessel,  it  was  their  good 
fortune  to  witness  the  dawn  of  the  Age  of  Steam. 

Many  persons  are  familiar  with  the  engraving,  fre- 
quently found  upon  old-time  parlor  walls,  of  the  small 
boy  sitting  at  a  tea-table  pressing  a  spoon  over  the  nose 
of  the  kettle  and  watching  the  steam  lift  the  lid.  The 
boy  was  James  Watt,  who  in  the  year  1774  inaugurated 
in  England  trial  tests  of  the  strange  power  he  had  thus 
discovered.  Half  a  century  later,  the  people  of  Amer- 
ica were  gazing  in  wonder  and  awe  upon  the  sight  of 
boats  moving  up  the  Hudson  River,  and  of  coaches  pass- 
ing over  the  land,  by  means  of  this  same  magic  power. 

Success  in  steam  experiment  was  attained  with  water- 
vehicles  at  a  period  earlier  than  with  coaches  operated 
upon  land,  the  clumsy  little  vessels  pictured  upon  the 
dinner  plates  sailing  the  American  rivers  and  lakes  a 
number  of  years  before  the  whistle  of  primitive  loco- 

225 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

motives  waked  the  sleeping  echoes  in  our  valleys.  The 
last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  number  of  Eu- 
ropean and  American  inventors,  mindful  of  the  ancient 
prophecy  that  "a  steam  carriage  would  one  day  go  al- 
most as  fast  as  birds  fly,"  experimented  with  the  new- 
found power  and  turned  out  eccentric  vehicles.  In  the 
year  1788,  John  Fitch,  a  Philadelphia  clock  maker, 
launched  a  steamboat  with  a  row  of  propelling  paddles 
on  either  side  (the  idea  of  wheels  not  occurring  to  him), 
and  with  three  ranges  of  chains,  suggested  by  his  trade, 
along  the  sides.  Failure  to  interest  the  public  in  his 
experiment  brought  him  but  the  popular  verdict,  "Poor 
fellow!  What  a  pity  he  is  crazy."  Another  Philadel- 
phian,  Oliver  Evans,  fitted  a  sort  of  scow  with  a  steam 
engine,  added  paddle  wheels  to  the  stern  and  set  it  on 
wheels.  He  ran  this  contrivance  through  the  streets 
of  Philadelphia  out  to  the  Schulykill  River,  where  he 
launched  it  and  propelled  it  down  the  stream  and  up 
the  Delaware  to  the  city.  About  the  same  time.  Colonel 
Stevens  and  his  son  were  constructing  such  marvelous 
engines  in  their  shops  in  Hoboken  that  the  fame  of  the 
family  crossed  the  seas,  and  a  view  of  the  Stevens  man- 
sion, which  was  considered  one  of  the  handsomest  homes 
in  America,  found  its  way  upon  English  pottery.  The 
illustration  portrays  a  large  Colonial  house  set  in  a  spa- 
cious lawn,  shaded  with  tall  pine  trees. 

But  it  remained  for  Robert  Fulton,  with  the  aid  of 

226 


INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  MODES  OF  TRAVEL 

Chancellor  Livingston,  to  carry  to  success  the  experi- 
ments of  those  who  had  paved  the  way  in  steam  naviga- 
tion. Fulton  first  made  trials  of  steam  engines  upon  the 
rivers  of  France,  before  bringing,  in  the  year  1806,  an 
English  engine  to  New  York,  where  he  ordered  a  hull 
built  for  it  in  the  East  River  shipyards.  There  the  new 
fangled  thing  was  jeered  at  and  dubbed  "Fulton's  Folly." 
And  indeed  the  Clermont,  as  he  named  the  boat  for  the 
country  home  of  Chancellor  Livingston,  was  a  novel 
sight — the  engine  in  plain  view  of  the  passengers,  the 
boiler  set  in  masonry  and  covered  with  a  little  house  like 
that  on  a  canal  boat,  the  rudder  resembling  the  rudder 
of  a  sailing  vessel,  and  huge  uncovered  paddle  wheels 
revolving  heavily  upon  either  side. 

Upon  a  beautiful  Sabbath  morning  in  August  in  the 
year  1807,  the  Clermont  made  her  trial  trip  up  tht  Hud- 
son River,  her  decks  filled  with  Fulton's  guests.  The 
ride  was  a  thrilling  experience,  the  passengers  all  the 
time  fearful  for  their  lives,  and  the  inventor  by  no  means 
certain  that  his  vessel  would  move  in  the  water.  The 
Clermont  started  bravely,  went  a  short  distance,  then 
stopped.  "I  told  you  so,"  might  have  been  heard  among 
the  passengers,  but  Fulton  adjusted  the  parts  and  on 
they  went,  the  machinery  groaning  and  creaking,  and 
the  water  splashing  the  deck  and  mingling  with  the 
clouds  of  cinders  from  the  engine.  Soon  another 
trouble  presented  itself — the  captains  of  sailing  vessels, 

227 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

jealous  of  this  new  rival  in  their  field,  ran  into  the  Cler- 
mont and  then  made  the  accident  appear  the  fault  of  the 
new  vessel's  clumsiness.  The  fiery  object  moving  up  the 
river  struck  such  terror  to  the  folk  along  the  bank  that 
some  of  the  more  ignorant  among  them  fell  upon  their 
knees  and  prayed  to  be  delivered  from  the  monster,  while 
those  less  timid  long  looked  upon  the  power  obtained 
from  fire  and  water  as  of  the  Evil  One.  The  vessel 
reached  Albany  in  safety.  "I  ran  it  up  in  thirty-two 
hours  and  down  in  thirty  hours.  The  power  of  propel- 
ling boats  by  steam  is  now  fully  proved,"  wrote  Fulton 
to  a  friend,  after  the  accomplishment  of  the  journey. 

The  success  of  the  Clermont  paved  the  way  for  the 
construction  of  other  vessels,  and  the  following  spring, 
to  the  intense  delight  of  the  people,  the  era  of  steamboat 
navigation  was  launched  by  the  establishment  of  regular 
sailings  between  New  York  and  Albany.  Little  by  little, 
luxurious  equipment  and  furnishings  were  added  to  the 
boats,  such  as  cabins  fitted  with  comfortable  beds,  bands 
of  music  on  board,  and,  an  item  of  especial  interest,  din- 
ing tables  were  provided  with  sets  of  blue  dishes  ordered 
from  Staflfordshire  decorated  with  pictures  of  the  boats. 
Surviving  specimens  of  these  sets  are  to-day  highly 
prized. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  the  Hudson  River  boats,  the 
steamship  Fulton  (a  disputed  sketch  of  which  is  pre- 
sented), was  considered  a  very  marvel  of  elegance  and 

228 


STEVENS  MANSION,  HOBOKEN,  N.  J. 
iStubbs) 


"FULTON"  STEAMBOAT 


STERN-WHEEL  STEAMBOAT 

Philadelphia  Dam  and  Waterworks 

( Unknown   Maker) 


DARK  BLUE  CUP  AND  SAUCER,  CALLED 
AND  OHIO  RAILROAD" 


'BALTIMORE 


INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  MODES  OF  TRAVEL 

luxury.  "There  is  not  in  the  whole  world  such  accom- 
modations afloat  as  the  Fulton  affords,"  a  journal  of  the 
day  commented,  adding  the  prophecy,  "Indeed,  it  is 
hardly  possible  to  conceive  that  anything  of  the  kind  can 
exceed  her  in  elegance  and  convenience."  The  Fulton 
was  built  in  the  year  1814  and  plied  between  New  York 
and  Albany,  starting  from  the  foot  of  Cortlandt  Street 
every  Saturday  morning  and  arriving  in  Albany  on  Sun- 
day morning,  the  fare  being  ten  dollars ;  she  had  accom- 
modations for  60  passengers.  The  Fulton  was  the  first 
boat  to  make  the  dangerous  passage  of  Hell  Gate,  as  a 
reward  for  the  feat  receiving  the  name  of  the  inventor. 
In  the  "Landing  of  Lafayette"  scene  which  is  presented 
in  a  former  chapter  the  steamboat  in  the  center  was  in- 
tended to  represent  the  Fulton,  but  is  wrongly  drawn,  as 
the  real  Fulton  was  fitted  with  one  mast  only  for  sails, 
while  she  is  shown  with  three ;  she  had  but  one  funnel. 

The  other  large  steamboat  in  the  "Landing"  scene  at 
the  Battery  is  the  Chancellor  Livingston,  the  last  boat 
designed  by  Robert  Fulton  and  not  completed  until  after 
his  death.  Another  old-china  decoration  exhibits  the 
Chancellor  Livingston  sailing  the  Hudson  River  near  the 
town  of  Fishkill,  a  location  readily  recognized  at  the  pres- 
ent time  and  one  which  no  doubt  appealed  for  its  pic- 
turesque beauty  to  the  old-time  English  artists.  The 
Chancellor  Livingston  measured  165  feet  in  length,  had 
a  draft  of  seven  feet,  and  her  75  horse-power  engine  car- 

229 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

ried  her  on  an  average  of  eight  miles  an  hour.  Her 
sleeping  and  dining  apartments,  it  is  recorded,  were  noted 
for  their  luxury.  She  was  the  most  powerful  and  the 
most  elegantly  appointed  vessel  in  the  world  at  the  time 
General  Lafayette  came  to  America  on  his  famous  visit, 
and  for  this  reason  she  was  chosen  to  carry  the  nation's 
guest  in  the  great  "Landing"  naval  parade. 

Another  notable  steamboat  was  the  Chief  Justice  Mar- 
shall, of  which  there  is  a  sketch  preserved  upon  speci- 
mens of  her  tableware,  framed  in  the  familiar  border  of 
sea-shells  and  mosses.  The  Chief  Justice  Marshall  was 
built  in  1825,  and,  as  the  large-lettered  sign  upon  her 
rail  announces,  she  belonged  to  the  "Troy  Line"  of  ves- 
sels. The  "Union  Line"  was  a  rival  Hudson  River 
Company  and  one  of  its  fleet,  similar  in  type  to  the  Troy 
vessels,  is  also  reproduced.  Three  examples  of  early 
Pennsylvania  steamboats  appear  upon  specimens  of  the 
dinner  service  in  use  in  their  dining  rooms.  One  of  them 
is  a  single-funnelled  side-wheeler  greatly  resembling  the 
Clermont,  from  which  no  doubt  it  was  modeled ;  this  ap- 
pears in  the  chapter  upon  Philadelphia.  Another  one, 
here  presented,  is  a  stern- wheel  vessel;  both  are  repre- 
sented as  steaming  past  the  Dam  and  Waterworks  of 
the  Schuylkill  River,  near  Philadelphia.  The  third 
Pennsylvania  steamboat,  with  the  name  Pennsylvania 
in  plain  view  upon  her  wheel-box,  is  fitted  with  two  fun- 
nels and  is  pictured  before  the  city  of  Pittsburgh,  at  that 

230 


INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  MODES  OF  TRAVEL 

time  but  a  small  group  of  buildings  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains  on  the  bank  of  the  Allegheny  River.  In  the 
view  of  the  harbor  of  Detroit,  Michigan,  which  a  pre- 
vious chapter  presents,  a  number  of  other  interesting 
types  of  primitive  American  craft  may  also  be  seen. 

Until  the  year  1831,  all  steam-vessels  were  equipped 
with  one  or  more  masts  for  sails,  the  old-time  device  be- 
ing retained  in  order  to  make  use  of  the  wind  in  case  of 
trouble  with  the  engine,  or  to  attain  greater  speed.  The 
mania  for  fast  sailing  thus  early  seized  upon  the  people, 
and  racing  upon  the  rivers  resulted  in  many  accidents. 
The  first  accident  occurred  in  1830,  to  the  Chief  Justice 
Marshall,  htv  boilers  bursting  as  she  was  leaving  the 
dock  at  Newburgh  one  day,  many  of  her  passengers  be- 
ing injured.  The  steamboats  upon  the  western  rivers 
became  notorious  for  racing.  To  "Never  be  passed  on 
the  river"  was  the  slogan  of  the  Mississippi  engineers, 
and  in  order  to  acquire  more  steam  from  the  blazing  pine 
knots  in  the  furnace  they  sometimes  threw  lard  and  hams 
into  the  flames ;  oft-times  the  interior  of  the  boat  would 
be  destroyed  for  fuel  before  port  was  reached.  Burst- 
ing of  boilers  and  grounding  on  snags  became  such  fre- 
quent occurrences  that  upon  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
river  banks  groups  of  stranded  passengers  might  often 
have  been  seen  waiting  for  a  passing  vessel  to  pick  them 
up  and  carry  them  to  their  journey's  end.  General  Lafa- 
yette, while  on  his  tour  of  the  West  in  1824,  had  a  nar- 

231 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

row  escape  from  drowning  in  the  Ohio  River  through 
the  reckless  speeding  of  the  small  steamboat  he  was  in, 
the  engineer  landing  the  craft  upon  a  snag  in  the  middle 
of  the  stream.  At  midnight  upon  a  dark  night,  Our  Na- 
tion's Guest,  in  scant  attire,  had  to  be  lifted  bodily  into  a 
small  boat  and  rowed  ashore.  A  mattress  was  rescued 
from  the  waves,  shelter  was  found  under  a  tree,  and 
there  the  great  man  was  forced  to  remain  until  a  pass- 
ing steamer  took  him  aboard.  In  1825,  "safety  barges" 
were  attached  to  steamers  by  cables,  and  the  passengers 
occupied  them  at  ease,  unworried  over  the  possible  burst- 
ing of  the  boiler  or  the  grounding  of  the  steamboat  in 
front  of  them. 

The  change  from  the  old  to  the  new  mode  of  travel 
upon  land — stage  coach  and  horses  to  carriages  drawn 
by  steam  locomotives — came  a  few  years  later  than  the 
change  from  sailing  vessels  to  steamboats,  and  the  inno- 
vation was  slower  of  adoption  by  our  forefathers.  The 
"Old  Style"  and  "New  Style"  of  travel  are  curiously 
illustrated  in  a  design  impressed  upon  the  sides  of  an  old 
English  pitcher.  Underneath  the  historic  dates  "i8cx)" 
and  "1848"  are  the  words  "Past"  and  "Present"  and 
"The  Two  Drivers."  Upon  one  side  of  the  pitcher  is 
pictured  a  stage-coach  driver,  a  man  of  rotund  figure, 
wearing  a  large  hat  and  carrying  a  whip ;  upon  the  oppo- 
site side,  a  small  boy  is  seen  seated  in  the  branches  of  a 

232 


STEAMBOAT  "CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL," 

"TROY    LINE" 

(Wood) 


EARLY  STEAMBOAT  ON  HUDSON,  "UNION  LINE" 
{Wood) 


BALTIMORE  AND  OHIO  R.  R. 

(Wood) 


BALTIMORE  AND  OHIO  R.  R.— IxNCLINED  PLANE 
{Wood) 


INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  MODES  OF  TRAVEL 

tree  and  gazing  down  in  wonder  upon  a  locomotive  run- 
ning over  an  iron  track. 

A  real  personage  was  the  stage  coach  driver,  usually 
a  portly,  florid-faced  man  wearing  an  air  of  authority 
that  was  most  impressive,  and,  when  seated  upon  his  box 
grasping  the  reins  of  his  four-  or  six-in-hand,  he  was 
looked  up  to  by  the  villagers  along  his  route  as  almost  the 
equal  of  the  squire  or  the  minister.  In  addition  to  car- 
rying passengers,  the  stage  coach  driver  was  accustomed 
to  perform  many  other  duties  of  various  kinds.  He  de- 
livered messages,  paid  bills  or  collected  them,  was  an 
agent  of  banks  and  brokers — and  all  of  this  business  he 
carried  in  his  head,  or  his  hat!  For  a  stage  driver's 
hat,  even  in  the  days  when  the  monstrous  bell  crown  was 
the  fashion,  was  usually  filled  with  letters  and  parcels 
put  there  for  safe  keeping,  the  owner  being  thus  a  com- 
bined forerunner  of  the  modern  postman,  expressman 
and  parcel  post.  No  doubt,  had  the  stage  driver  been 
told  that  one  day  two  parallel  iron  rails  and  a  tea  kettle 
on  wheels  would  dethrone  him  from  his  proud  position 
and  render  staging  unfashionable  and  almost  obsolete,  he 
would  have  smiled  in  pity  upon  the  speaker  as  either  a 
fool  or  a  madman. 

Previous  to  the  time  locomotives  were  introduced  into 
America,  the  country  was  a  maze  of  stage  routes,  the 
year  1811  showing  37,000  miles  of  post  roads,  several 

233 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

state  roads  and  a  national  turnpike,  each  thoroughfare 
dotted  here  and  there  along  its  way  with  roomy,  sloping- 
roofed  taverns  for  the  accommodation  of  travelers.  Be- 
fore the  introduction  of  regular  stage  routes,  the  post 
had  been  carried  by  men  on  horseback,  from  city  to  city. 
In  1755,  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  acted  as  postmaster, 
gave  notice  that  mail  between  Philadelphia  and  New 
England  would  start  by  post  once  a  week,  "whereby  an- 
swers may  be  obtained  to  letters  between  Philadelphia 
and  Boston  in  three  weeks,  which  used  to  require  six 
weeks."  After  the  Revolutionary  War,  a  scheme  was 
set  on  foot  to  form  a  line  of  posts  from  Falmouth,  New 
England,  to  Savannah,  Georgia,  "with  cross  posts  where 
needful."  The  first  stage  between  Boston  and  New 
York  started  in  June,  1772,  to  run  once  a  fortnight  as  "a 
useful,  new,  and  expensive  undertaking,"  the  time  re- 
quired for  the  journey  being  thirteen  days !  A  half  cen- 
tury later,  in  1829,  the  "Albany  Coach"  left  Boston  three 
times  a  week,  and  arrived  in  Albany  on  the  third  day  at 
noon,  the  distance  being  160  miles  and  the  fare  six  dol- 
lars; the  "Boston  and  New  York  Mail"  left  Boston  daily 
at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  arrived  the  second 
afternoon  in  New  York.  The  "Pilot  Stage"  ran  from 
New  York  to  Philadelphia  daily  in  14  to  16  hours,  fare 
ten  dollars,  with  accommodations  in  summer  for  seven 
passengers.  It  had  connections  with  another  line  for 
Baltimore  and  Washington,  whence  still  another  carried 

234 


INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  MODES  OF  TRAVEL 

the  passengers  on  to  Richmond.  Imagination  pictures 
the  long,  delightful  hours  of  these  journeys  for  indul- 
gence in  political  discussions  or  personal  gossip,  and  for 
enjoyment  of  the  scenery  through  which  the  stages 
passed ! 

The  change  from  stage  coach  to  steam  carriage 
aroused  in  the  country  an  opposition  similar  to  that 
which  prevailed  when  steamboat  travel  was  broached. 
'What  is  to  become  of  America,"  the  critics  asked, 
"after  the  unfortunate  country  has  fed  to  its  locomotives 
the  last  pound  of  its  limited  supply  of  coal  ?"  The  rapid 
rate  of  travel  and  the  shock  of  the  sudden  stopping,  they 
argued,  could  never  be  endured  until  we  had  brains  of 
brass  or  iron.  Tales  came  from  England,  where,  follow- 
ing the  successful  experiments  of  George  Stephenson 
with  his  "Puffing  Billy,"  steam  cars  had  already  been  in- 
troduced, of  the  brains  of  business  men  becoming  so 
addled  by  the  swiftness  of  railroad  travel  that  they  for- 
got what  they  had  set  out  for  and  had  to  write  home  to 
find  out.  One  elderly  gentleman,  after  a  prolonged  de- 
bauch of  railroad  travel,  dashed  his  brains  against  a  post 
and  shivered  them  to  pieces,  a  gruesome  story  ran.  The 
introduction  of  steam  power  was  a  source  of  grief  to 
John  Ruskin,  who  saw  in  it  a  menace  to  peace  and  wel- 
fare. The  rural  villages  of  this  country  did  not  relish 
the  notion  of  their  quiet  being  disturbed  by  noisy  trains. 
Daniel  Webster  drove  out  one  day  to  Quincy  from  Bos- 

235 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

ton,  to  inspect  the  horse-power  railroad  in  operation  at 
the  quarries,  and  on  his  way  back  he  shook  his  head  and 
gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  frosts  on  the  rails  in  win- 
ter would  prove  a  difficulty  which  never  could  be  over- 
come. 

In  spite  of  protests,  however,  the  idea  of  steam  travel 
on  land  gained  friends,  and  in  the  summer  of  1829  four 
locomotives  were  ordered  from  England  for  trial  on  the 
rails  already  laid  at  quarries  and  mines  for  cars  operated 
by  horses.  One  of  the  English  engines,  the  "Stour- 
bridge Lion,"  was  hauled  to  the  tracks  of  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Railroad  near  Honesdale,  Pennsylvania,  and 
its  historic  run  was  made  the  occasion  for  a  holiday,  the 
entire  countryside  turning  out  to  witness  the  trial.  No 
one  believed  the  strange  monster  would  go,  even  the  man 
who  guided  her  being  in  doubt,  for  the  timber  of  the 
roadway  had  cracked  and  warped  from  the  summer's 
heat,  and  a  thirty-foot  trestle  over  a  creek  had  to  be 
crossed  on  a  curve.  "As  I  placed  my  hand  on  the 
throttle  valve  handle,"  he  afterwards  said,  "I  was  unde- 
cided whether  I  should  move  slowly  or  with  a  fair  degree 
of  speed,  but  preferring,  if  I  did  go  down,  to  go  hand- 
somely, I  started  with  considerable  velocity,  passed  the 
curves  over  the  creek  safely  and  was  soon  out  of  hearing 
of  the  cheers  of  the  vast  assemblage.  ...  At  the  end 
of  two  or  three  miles  I  reversed  the  valve  and  returned 
without  accident,  having  made  the  first  locomotive  trip 

236 


THE  "CHANCELLOR  LIVI.NGSTU.X  "   (W  ITil  THREE  MASTS  AND 

ONE   FUNNEL)    PASSING   THE   HIGHLANDS,   HUDSON 

RIVER 

(Wood) 


LEEDS  TEAPOT 

Fulton's  Steamboat  Passing  West  Point 

(In  Dickins  Collection) 


> 


>> 

r! 


^  o 

^  "I 

Q  -S 

^  o 


INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  MODES  OF  TRAVEL 

on  the  Western  Hemisphere."  The  "Stourbridge  Lion" 
is  now  in  the  National  Museum  of  the  Smithsonian  In- 
stitution in  Washington. 

The  railroad  fever  then  quickly  seized  upon  the  peo- 
ple and  spread  like  a  contagion ;  charters  for  new  roads 
multiplied ;  iron-banded  wooden  rails  were  laid  through- 
out the  land;  engines  were  built,  odd-looking  contriv- 
ances, with  vertical,  bottle-shaped  boilers,  chimney-like 
smokestacks  and  tenders  merely  an  open  platform  on 
wheels.  Each  locomotive  originally  was  given  a  name, 
as  is  the  custom  with  vessels  to-day,  a  custom  still  in 
vogue  in  several  countries  of  Europe.  The  earliest  pas- 
senger coaches  were  modeled  after  the  stage  coach,  with 
seats  both  inside  and  out,  the  inside  seats  being  at  first 
arranged  around  the  sides ;  later  on,  the  center  aisle  with 
which  we  are  familiar  was  adopted,  in  preference  to  the 
English  compartment  model  with  a  narrow  ledge  along 
the  outside — a  style  which  continues  in  use  in  the  Old 
World. 

The  two  scenes  which  are  framed  in  the  rich  shell  bor- 
der of  Enoch  Wood  are  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road, which  was  built  to  connect  the  eastern  States  with 
the  semi-wilderness  region  of  the  Ohio  River.  The  first 
scene  represents  an  early  locomotive  of  the  English  type, 
drawing  a  load  of  freight  cars ;  the  second,  a  stationary 
engine  may  be  seen  at  the  summit  of  a  hill  near  the  en- 
trance to  a  mine,  with  a  number  of  cars  running  down  a 

237 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

very  steep  grade.  The  corner  stone  of  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  was  laid  in  Baltimore  July  4,  1828,  by  Charles 
Carroll,  the  last  surviving  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  was  an  event  of  great  importance, 
celebrated  by  a  procession,  and,  it  is  recorded,  by  sending 
to  Lafayette  (who  had  visited  Baltimore  a  few  years  be- 
fore) a  fine  pair  of  specially  designed  satin  shoes,  which 
were  placed  in  the  museum  at  La  Grange. 

In  the  year  1829,  Peter  Cooper  built  the  "Tom 
Thumb,"  a  model  one-horse  power  engine,  and  ran  it 
for  a  short  distance  upon  the  tracks  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio,  but  regular  service  of  railway  travel  in  America 
was  not  established  until  the  following  year.  Peter 
Cooper  describes  the  "Tom  Thumb"  thus :  "The  engine 
was  a  very  small  and  insignificant  aflfair.  It  was  made 
at  the  time  I  had  become  the  owner  of  all  the  land  now 
belonging  to  the  Canton  Company,  the  value  of  which  I 
believed  depended  almost  entirely  upon  the  success  of 
the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad.  When  I  had  com- 
pleted the  engine  I  invited  the  directors  to  witness  an 
experiment.  Some  thirty-six  persons  entered  one  of  the 
passenger  cars,  and  four  rode  on  the  locomotive,  which 
carried  its  own  fuel  and  water;  and  made  the  first 
passage  of  thirteen  miles  over  an  average  ascending 
grade  of  eighteen  feet  to  the  mile,  in  one  hour  and  twelve 
minutes.  We  made  the  return  trip  in  fifty-seven  min- 
utes."    Several  of  the  favored  directors,  we  learn  else- 

238 


INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  MODES  OF  TRAVEL 

where,  who  were  aboard  the  train  upon  this  historic  run, 
took  out  their  notebooks  and  wrote  sentences  in  them  in 
order  to  prove  that  they  were  able  to  do  so  while  travel- 
ing at  such  rapid  speed. 

In  the  cup  and  saucer  decorations  another  early  loco- 
motive, whether  of  English  or  American  manufacture  is 
a  disputed  question,  may  be  seen  drawing  a  passenger 
car  of  the  stage  coach  type,  a  car  which  closely  resembles 
those  which  were  used  upon  the  tracks  of  the  Mohawk 
and  Hudson  River  Railroad.  The  honor  of  being  the 
first  railway  line  to  establish  regular  train  service  in 
America  belongs,  however,  to  the  Charleston  and  Ham- 
burg Railroad  of  South  Carolina,  with  a  bottle-shaped 
vertical  engine  known  as  "The  Best  Friend  of  Charles- 
ton" ;  this  was  in  the  year  1830. 

An  interesting  scene,  printed  in  pale  blue  and  framed 
in  delicate  mosses,  pictures  one  of  the  first  railway  trains 
to  be  run  in  New  York  State — without  doubt  one  of  the 
earliest  representations  of  the  old  DeWitt  Clinton  engine, 
the  pride  of  museums  and  expositions  ever  since  the  day 
she  made  her  historic  run  from  Albany  to  Schenectady, 
over  the  tracks  of  the  Mohawk  and  Hudson  River  Rail- 
road. It  was  a  joyous  occasion,  and  not  since  the  open- 
ing of  the  Erie  Canal  six  years  previous  was  there  so 
great  excitement.  The  people  of  the  countryside  along 
the  route  turned  out  to  view  the  spectacle,  for  long  dis- 
tances lining  the  track  on  both  sides  with  all  sorts  of 

239 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

vehicles.  Chronicles  of  the  period  relate  how  on  the 
evening  of  August  8,  1831,  the  guests  who  were  to  board 
the  train  on  the  following  morning  bought  their  tickets 
at  the  hotel  in  Albany,  and  how  at  daybreak  they  made 
their  way  to  the  outskirts  of  the  city  and  were  carried 
up  a  hill  to  the  place  where  the  train  awaited  them.  The 
state  officials  occupied  the  foremost  coaches  (some  of 
them  stage  coaches  pressed  into  service),  while  as  many 
persons  as  possible  seated  themselves  along  the  sides  of 
the  cars  and  upon  the  roofs,  hundreds,  however,  for  lack 
of  room  either  to  sit  or  stand,  being  obliged  to  remain 
behind.  The  time  came  to  start ;  a  horn  tooted ;  the  en- 
gineer, fearful  that  the  load  was  too  heavy  for  his  engine, 
started  with  such  a  jerk  that  it  sent  hats  flying  and  peo- 
ple sprawling.  Forward  the  train  moved  out  into  the 
country,  the  passengers  enjoying  the  novel  experience  of 
the  rapidly  unrolling  scenery,  when  unexpected  trouble 
developed — clouds  of  sparks  streamed  from  the  engine 
over  those  who  were  upon  the  roofs,  setting  fire  to  their 
clothing,  and  the  umbrellas  raised  for  protection  were 
quickly  tossed  overboard  in  flames.  The  crowds  of  peo- 
ple along  the  track  cheered  lustily  the  novel  spectacle; 
horses  jumped  and  ran  in  terror  from  the  snorting 
monster ;  at  last,  the  train  came  to  a  stop  upon  the  sum- 
mit of  a  hill,  and  the  jolted  passengers  were  lowered  to 
the  city  of  Schenectady,  their  journey  at  an  end.  The 
festivities    of    celebration    continued — music,    cannon, 

240 


TRAIN  ON  MOHAWK  AND  HUDSON  RIVER  RAILWAY 

(C.  C.) 


INTRODUCTION  OF  NEW  MODES  OF  TRAVEL 

salutes,  processions,  speeches — and  the  eventful  day 
ended  with  a  banquet  where  was  offered  the  prophetic 
toast :  "The  Buffalo  Railroad :  May  we  soon  breakfast 
at  Utica,  dine  at  Rochester,  and  sup  with  our  friends  on 
Lake  Erie." 

In  this  manner  was  ushered  in  the  Age  of  Steam,  that 
historic  era  in  which  sailing  vessels  and  stage  coaches, 
the  last  mementoes  of  our  Colonial  forefathers  which 
English  pottery  records,  gradually  gave  place  to  the 
steam-driven  ships  and  railway  trains  of  the  present. 
At  some  future  time,  it  will  no  doubt  come  to  pass  that 
new  marvels  of  science  will  cause  the  luxurious  trains 
and  steamships  of  the  present  day  to  appear  as  clumsy 
and  old-fashioned  as  the  little  boats  and  locomotives 
which  are  pictured  upon  the  old  blue  dishes  appear  to 
the  youthful  generation  of  to-day. 


241 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 


THE  PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT  CHINA 


CHAPTER  A 

THE  WHITE  HOUSE  COLLECTION  OF  PRESIDENTIAL  CHINA 

FOREMOST  perhaps  among  the  numerous  historical  attrac- 
tions which  lure  the  American  pilgrim  to  Washington  is 
the  stately  old  Mansion  which,  with  one  exception,  has  been 
the  home  of  all  the  presidents  of  the  United  States.  And  among 
the  mementos  of  bygone  administrations  which  the  White  House 
shelters  at  the  present  time,  not  the  least  in  popular  interest  is  the 
collection  of  specimens  of  porcelain  and  glassware  which  from 
the  earliest  days  of  the  Republic  graced  the  table  of  the  Chief 
Executive.  Twenty-four  groups,  of  from  one  to  ten  pieces  in 
each  group,  at  the  present  writing  make  up  the  exhibit,  the  Presi- 
dent Johnson  administration  alone  being  as  yet  without  repre- 
sentation in  the  collection;  while  the  President  Taft  and  the 
President  Wilson  administrations  have  continued  in  use  the  porce- 
lain selected  by  Mrs.  Roosevelt.  The  collection  is  a  growing  one, 
however,  and  in  time  it  is  hoped  that  each  administration  will, 
through  loan  or  gift,  be  adequately  represented.  The  articles  are 
arranged  in  cabinets  upon  either  side  of  the  Lower  Corridor  of  the 
White  House ;  while  accompanying  them  hang  upon  the  walls  the 
portraits  of  six  of  the  former  Mistresses  of  the  Mansion — Mrs. 
Van  Buren,  a  daughter-in-law  of  President  Van  Buren,  Mrs. 
Tyler,  Mrs.  Polk,  Mrs.  Hayes,  Mrs.  Harrison,  and  Mrs.  Roose- 
velt, that  of  the  present  Mrs.  Wilson  being  soon  to  be  added  to  the 
number.  Martha  Washington's  portrait  hangs  in  the  Red  Room 
above,  near  to  that  of  our  first  president.  A  plan  is  now  on  foot 
to  place  the  collection  of  porcelains  and  glass  in  one  of  the  rooms 
adjoining  the  Lower  Corridor  where  it  now  is,  building  for  it 
permanent  and  commodious  wall  cabinets,  thereby  ensuring 
greater  security  for  the  exhibit  as  well  as,  for  the  visitor,  a  more 
satisfactory  opportunity  for  observation  and  study. 

245 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Like  many  another  enterprise,  the  idea  of  forming  a  collection 
of  china  belonging  to  past  presidents  long  preceded  its  actual  un- 
dertaking. Mrs.  Hayes  and  Mrs.  Benjamin  Harrison,  while  pre- 
siding over  the  Mansion,  each  conceived  a  plan  somewhat  similar 
to  the  one  which  later  on  was  inaugurated  and  carried  to  nearly 
its  present  state  of  completion  by  Mrs.  Roosevelt — to  gather  to- 
gether by  means  of  patriotic  loan  or  gift  specimens  of  presidential 
china  which  had  come  into  the  possession  of  descendants  of  the 
original  owners.  For,  with  the  revival  of  interest  in  all  things 
pertaining  to  the  past  history  of  our  country,  upon  search  it  was 
discovered  with  surprise  and  dismay  that  very  little  of  the  older 
pieces  of  porcelain  remained  upon  the  White  House  pantry 
shelves,  and  that  a  knowledge  of  their  characteristics  was  therefore 
in  danger  of  being  entirely  lost.  The  cause  of  this  state  of 
things,  by  the  way,  may  be  directly  traced  to  the  time  of  George 
Washington,  for,  when  he  removed  the  seat  of  Government  from 
New  York  to  Philadelphia  in  1790,  Congress  enacted  a  law 
whereby  "the  decayed  furnishings  of  the  President's  House  should 
be  sold  for  refurnishing  the  new  house  in  Philadelphia."  There- 
after, when  the  city  of  Washington  became  the  permanent  home 
of  the  Government,  with  each  incoming  administration  Congress 
voted  a  sum  of  money  (frequently  twenty  thousand  dollars)  for 
fresh  furnishings  for  the  President's  House,  the  amount  to  be 
expended  under  the  direction  and  according  to  the  taste  of  the 
new  Chief  Executive  and  his  family.  And  any  of  the  old  fur- 
nishings which  they  might  be  pleased  to  consider  "decayed"  were 
promptly  sold  at  public  sale — carpets,  tables,  chairs,  window- 
hangings,  beds,  linen,  tableware,  etc.,  etc.  This  practice  led  to 
greater  or  less  alterations  in  the  character  of  the  interior  of  the 
mansion  with  almost  every  administration,  and  twice  in  its  his- 
tory— under  President  Monroe,  after  its  partial  destruction  by 
the  fire  of  the  British  soldiers  in  1814,  and  under  President 
Roosevelt,  who,  in  his  message  to  Congress  submitting  the 
architects'  report,  declared  that  it  "had  become  disfigured  by  in- 
congruous additions  and  changes" — the  White  House  interior  has 
undergone  complete  remodeling  and  refurnishing.    At  the  present 

246 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

time,  restored  to  the  plan  of  James  Hoban,  its  original  architect, 
and  made  consistent  with  modern  ideas  of  sanitation,  the  home  of 
our  presidents  is  one  of  appropriate  dignity  and  utility.  And,  in 
place  of  the  careless  and  haphazard  manner  in  which  it  formerly 
was  looked  after  by  the  Government,  the  White  House  has  been 
put  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  Bureau  of  Buildings  and 
Grounds. 

The  White  House  collection  of  presidential  china,  although 
far  from  as  complete  as  it  eventually  will  be,  is  noteworthy  in  that 
perhaps  to  a  greater  degree  than  most  other  displays  of  historical 
relics  in  this  country  it  bears  interesting  and  intimate  witness  to 
the  progress,  halting  and  varying  as  it  has  been,  in  luxury  and 
in  taste  of  the  American  people  throughout  the  century  and 
more  of  national  life.  For,  unlike  the  existing  specimens  of 
Anglo-American  pottery  which  form  the  special  subject  of  this 
volume,  and  which  in  early  years  found  a  place  upon  the  humble 
tables  of  the  mass  of  American  citizens,  the  White  House  collec- 
tion almost  uniformly  presents  examples  of  fine  and  costly  porce- 
lains, the  choicest  output  of  French,  Dutch,  English,  and  Oriental 
potteries  which  was  brought  overseas  to  grace  the  boards  of  our 
forefathers  of  wealth  and  fashion.  Exquisite  design,  color,  and 
form  characterize  several  of  the  groups  belonging  to  those  admin- 
istrations which  were  co-temporary  with  the  vogue  of  French 
taste  in  America,  due  to  the  close  relations  with  that  country 
growing  out  of  its  attitude  toward  the  American  struggle  for  in- 
dependence, as,  for  example,  some  of  the  Washington,  the  Madi- 
son, and  the  Monroe  pieces.  The  Polk  china,  too,  with  its  dainty 
bird  design,  displays  the  same  characteristics ;  while  the  Pierce 
and  Lincoln  groups  attract  the  eye  for  the  broad  bands  of  rich 
color  and  the  graceful  forms  which  they  display.  The  showy 
Hayes  and  Arthur  specimens,  challenging  the  beholder  to  pause 
and  examine,  are  a  reminder  of  the  current  styles  of  interior 
decoration  which  were  popular  in  that  flamboyant  era  we  have 
come  to  designate  as  mid- Victorian ;  the  Cleveland  and  Benjamin 
Harrison  groups,  on  the  other  hand,  claiming  attention  for  the 
quiet  elegance  of  their  decoration,  portraying  the  prevailing  taste 

247 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

of  the  succeeding  decade  as  well  as  that  of  their  sponsors.  And 
one  will  pause,  as  the  writer  did,  before  the  Roosevelt  exhibit,  ap- 
preciating how  distinctly  its  simple  elegance  accords  with  the 
recognized  trend  of  to-day's  thought.  Indeed,  so  expressive  not 
only  of  the  popular  inclination  of  the  moment  but  also  of  that 
patriotic  ideal  which  the  America  of  to-day  has  developed,  is  the 
Roosevelt  china,  that  the  suggestion  has  been  offered  to  perpetuate 
the  design  for  the  official  White  House  table,  the  Taft  and  Wilson 
administrations  having  already  signified  their  approval  by  merely 
supplying  breakages  from  it  in  place  of  introducing  other  styles. 
A  piece  of  china  which  belonged  with  every  properly  planned  set 
in  our  early  Republican  times,  and  one  which  a  later-day  mode 
seems  to  have  relegated  to  disuse,  is  the  fruit-compote,  a  number 
of  examples  of  which  may  be  seen  in  the  collection.  This  dish 
consists  of  a  bowl,  sometimes  round  but  more  often  oblong  or 
diamond-shaped,  generally  of  openwork  lattice  pattern,  and  set 
upon  a  standard  from  six  to  ten  inches  high.  Decorated  with  the 
same  design  as  the  remainder  of  the  set,  the  compote  is  an  im- 
posing piece,  an  excellent  specimen  being  the  beautiful  one  illus- 
trated with  the  Lincoln  china.  Another  piece,  which  by  the  way 
present  day  fashion  is  returning  to  favor,  is  the  pretty  little 
covered  custard-cup,  an  example  of  which  the  Lincoln  group  like- 
wise presents.  Also,  a  punch  bowl,  decorated  to  match  the  other 
pieces,  was  oft-times  included  in  old-time  sets  of  porcelain.  The 
Coat  of  Arms  of  the  United  States  has  been  several  times  fittingly 
incorporated  in  the  pattern  adopted  for  state  sets,  the  number  of 
stars  it  displays  equaling  the  number  of  states  in  the  Union  at 
the  time  of  printing. 

Although  George  Washington  died  before  the  completion  of 
the  Executive  Mansion,  in  the  erection  of  which  he  was  deeply 
interested,  the  story  of  presidential  china  properly  begins  with 
mention  of  the  wares  once  used  by  him,  a  small  number  of  pieces 
of  which  stand  at  the  head  of  the  White  House  collection.  The 
years  of  Washington's  life  spanned  the  periods  between  pewter 
and  porcelain  as  articles  of  table  use  in  America,  the  close  of  the 
War  of  the  Revolution  rather  definitely  marking  the  transition. 

248 


THE  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  CHINA 


THE  JOHN  ADAMS 
GOBLET 


THE  JEFFERSON  STATE  SET 


THE  MADISON  CHINA 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

That  Washington  owned  and  used  pewter,  many  dinner  dishes  of 
that  material  decorated  with  his  crest  and  initials  remain  to  attest ; 
while  the  contents  of  his  camp  mess  chest,  now  preserved  in  the 
United  States  National  Museum  in  Washington,  D.  C,  are  of 
pewter.  But  the  war  ended  and  peace  restored,  our  first  presi- 
dent had  leisure  to  indulge  the  fondness  which  he,  in  common  with 
Benjamin  Franklin,  conspicuously  possessed  for  those  "little 
azure-tinted  grotesques  that,  under  the  notion  of  men  and  women, 
float  about  uncircumscribed  by  any  element,  in  that  world  before 
perspective — a  china  teacup."  Attactive  indeed  to  Washington 
must  have  been  the  newspaper  advertisements  of  his  day  announc- 
ing the  infrequent  arrival  of  vessels  from  the  Orient,  and  setting 
forth  long  lists  of  cargoes  of  china,  teas,  and  precious  stuffs,  to 
be  sold  at  "PubHck  Vendue."  A  letter  written  by  him  under  date 
of  1785  is  extant,  in  which  he  gives  orders  for  the  purchase  at 
one  of  these  sales  in  Baltimore,  among  other  articles,  of  a  "sett  of 
the  best  Nankin  Table  China,  Ditto — best  Evening  Cups  and 
Saucers,  A  sett  of  large  blue  and  white  China,  i  Dozen  small 
bowls  blue  and  white,  6  Wash  hand  Guglets  (small  jugs)  and 
Basons,  etc.,  etc."  Soon  after  his  inauguration  in  New  York  in 
1789,  Washington  established  himself  in  a  mansion  on  Franklin 
Square  which  had  been  repaired  and  refurnished,  and  which  be- 
came known  as  the  President's  Palace.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend,  a 
young  New  York  woman  of  that  time  writes :  "There  is  scarcely 
anything  talked  of  now  but  General  Washington  and  the  Palace 
.  .  .  the  best  of  furniture  in  every  room  and  the  greatest  quantity 
of  plate  and  china  that  I  ever  saw  ..."  By  the  time  of  his 
return  to  private  life  at  Mount  Vernon,  Washington  had  evidently 
acquired  a  goodly  quantity  of  porcelain,  for  he  gave  directions  for 
the  appropriation  of  a  small  room  in  the  remodeled  house  for 
"the  Sevres  china  and  other  things  of  that  sort  which  are  not  in 
common  use."  The  tableware  which  was  in  common  use  both  in 
New  York  and  in  Mount  Vernon  was  the  blue  and  white  Canton 
ware  which  is  familiar  to  all,  two  pieces  of  which — a  badly  cracked 
platter  and  a  dinner  plate — which  were  purchased  at  President 
Washington's  sale  of  household  effects  when  he  left  New  York 

249 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

for  Philadelphia  in  1790,  are  to  be  seen  in  the  White  House  col- 
lection. The  remaining  articles  in  the  Washington  group  include 
a  cup  and  saucer  which  formed  a  part  of  the  well-known  "white 
and  gold  tea-set"  belonging  to  Martha  Washington,  and  a  dinner 
plate  of  the  "Cincinnati  set"  (to  which  Order  Washington  be- 
longed), over  the  acquisition  of  which  there  has  been  much  dis- 
cussion. It  is  now  agreed  that  Washington  most  probably  pur- 
chased the  set  himself  upon  its  arrival  from  China,  where  quan- 
tities of  it  were  decorated  with  the  insignia  of  the  Order  from  a 
drawing  supplied  in  America.  As  may  be  seen  in  the  illustration, 
the  design  which  occupies  the  center  of  the  plate,  within  a  border 
of  blue  Oriental  scroll  and  leaf  ornaments,  consists  of  a  figure  of 
winged  Fame  in  a  light  green  robe  and  pink  scarf,  blowing  a 
trumpet  and  holding  suspended  from  one  hand  a  colored  repre- 
sentation of  the  Society's  badge,  A  plate  of  the  "set  given  me 
by  Mr.  Van  Braam,"  so  designated  by  Martha  Washington  in 
her  will,  and  popularly  known  as  "the  Martha  Washington 
States"  china,  is  illustrated  and  described  in  a  former  chapter  of 
this  volume.  A  number  of  pieces  of  this  set  are  in  the  National 
Museum  at  Washington  and  other  pieces,  said  to  be  reproductions, 
are  at  Mount  Vernon,  but  the  White  House  collection  is  without 
a  specimen. 

John  Adams  occupied  the  President's  House  (as  it  was  then 
known)  but  nine  months,  completing  his  term  begun  in  Phila- 
delphia. Unfinished  and  uncomfortable  as  the  mansion  was, 
(the  famous  East  Room  was  used  to  dry  the  family  laundry  and 
fireplaces  barely  took  the  chill  from  the  large  drafty  apartments), 
nevertheless  its  levees  and  state  dinners  were  conducted  with  the 
same  regard  for  ceremony  for  which  Washington  had  established 
the  precedent.  While  residing  abroad,  John  Adams  had  made 
many  purchases  of  furniture  and  tableware,  some  of  which  he 
doubtless  used  in  Philadelphia  and  in  Washington,  but  as  yet 
the  White  House  collection  contains  but  two  articles  with  which 
to  commemmorate  his  administration — the  bowl  of  a  cut-glass 
goblet  (the  stem  and  base  having  disappeared)  set  in  a  properly- 
fitted  silver  standard,  and  a  framed  silhouette  of  Abigail  Adams. 

250 


THE  PRESIDENT  MONROE  CHINA 


THE  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  COLLECTION  OF  CHINA  AND  GLASS 


THE  PRESIDENT  JACKSON  CHINA  AND  CANDELABRUM 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

The  bowl  is  etched  with  floral  wreaths  festooned  from  a  deco- 
rative band,  and  upon  one  side  is  the  letter  "A."  Underneath  the 
letter  are  the  initials  S.  C.  T. — Sarah  Corcoran  Thorn,  to  whom 
the  goblet  was  given  by  a  great-grandson  of  John  Adams,  who 
had  her  initials  placed  upon  it.  The  goblet  was  presented  to  the 
collection  by  Mrs.  Harry  Reade,  the  daughter  of  Mrs.  Thorn. 
The  silhouette  is  an  interesting  memento  of  that  period,  exhibiting 
Mrs.  Adams  in  a  quaint  frilled  head-dress,  A  letter  of  presen- 
tation accompanies  the  relic,  it  having  originally  been  a  gift  to 
a  classmate  of  Mrs.  Adams,  a  daughter  of  Jeremiah  Bailey, 
by  whom  it  was  given  to  the  donor  to  the  White  House  collec- 
tion. 

A  notion  of  extreme  simplicity  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the 
Executive  regime  has  in  later  years  come  to  be  associated  with  the 
name  of  Jefferson,  the  father  of  the  Democratic  party,  but  a 
glance  at  the  White  House  exhibit  of  his  administration  goes  far 
to  prove  that  conception  erroneous,  at  least  so  far  as  his  table 
appointments  were  concerned.  For  as  elegant  a  group  of  porce- 
lain as  the  entire  collection  can  boast,  together  with  a  time-yel- 
lowed family  cook-book  called  "The  Virginia  Housewife,"  con- 
taining many  choice  recipes  in  Jefferson's  own  hand  (among  them 
the  writer  noted  one  for  a  Cabbage  Pudding  which  had  come  to 
him  from  his  French  cook  Petit),  occupy  an  entire  shelf.  The 
accommodations  in  the  President's  House  had  become  somewhat 
better  by  the  time  Mr.  Jefferson  moved  in  than  they  were  during 
the  Adams  occupancy,  and,  in  accord  with  his  own  personal  tastes 
as  well  as  with  his  deep-rooted  conviction  as  to  the  political  value 
of  dinners,  openhanded  hospitality  characterized  the  Mansion 
during  his  terms  of  office ;  a  letter  of  ex-President  Adams  in  later 
years  declares:  "I  dined  a  large  company  once  or  twice  a  week, 
Jefferson  dined  a  dozen  every  day."  Humboldt,  Tom  Moore, 
Jerome  Bonaparte,  and  Tom  Paine  were  among  the  notables  at  his 
table.  It  has  been  stated  that  Jefferson  was  very  fond  of  olives, 
figs,  mulberries,  crabs,  venison,  oysters,  partridges,  pineapples  and 
light  wines,  his  household  records  containing  frequent  entries  of 
these  delicacies.    And  there  are  also  tales  of  small  dinners  in  the 

251 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

mansion,  when  strict  privacy  was  secured  by  means  of  a  "dumb- 
waiter" at  each  guest's  chair  filled  with  all  necessary  articles  like 
extra  plates,  knives  and  forks,  finger  bowls,  etc.,  and  by  the 
additional  means  of  a  set  of  revolving  shelves  placed  in  the  wall, 
evidently  somewhat  like  the  contrivance  at  the  entrance  to  certain 
European  convents  of  cloistered  nuns  to  make  possible  unseen 
communication  with  the  outside  world,  whereby  fresh  viands 
entered  the  room  as  the  emptied  plates  swung  around  into  the 
pantry.  Being  a  widower,  Jefferson's  official  table  was  at  times 
presided  over  by  his  daughters,  but  more  frequently  by  the  wife 
of  his  Secretary  of  State,  Mrs.  Madison.  Four  pieces  of  a  din- 
ner set  used  upon  his  table  are  upon  exhibition — a  large  covered 
soup-tureen,  a  large  platter,  a  plate,  and  the  cover  of  a  broken 
vegetable  dish.  The  porcelain  is  heavy,  a  piece  of  this  set  being 
described  by  Mrs.  Earle  as  of  Chinese  manufacture  of  the  type 
erroneously  known  as  Lowestoft.  The  decoration  consists  of  a 
wide  outer  rim  and  an  inner  border  of  deep  blue  diaper,  accentu- 
ated by  dainty  gold  bordering  lines.  The  center  of  the  flat  pieces 
and  the  sides  of  the  tureen  and  covers  bear  a  blue  outlined  shield 
carrying  thirteen  stars  and  enclosing  a  gold  letter  "J."  Above  the 
shield  is  a  blue  and  gold  helmet  drawn  with  visor  closed.  During 
Jefferson's  term  the  celebrated  De  Tuyll  silver  was  purchased  in 
Paris,  pieces  of  which  bearing  the  faint  ancestral  markings  are 
now  in  the  original  chest,  and,  as  the  writer  observed,  upon  the 
sideboard  of  the  private  White  House  dining  room.  It  is  claimed 
that  over  three  hundred  pieces  of  this  plate  were  purchased  by 
Monroe,  at  Jefferson's  request,  from  a  Russian  nobleman  named 
De  Tuyll,  whose  financial  straits  compelled  the  sacrifice. 

James  Madison,  whose  portrait  (upon  a  Liverpool  jug)  may 
be  found  in  a  previous  chapter  of  this  volume,  has  been  de- 
scribed as  "a  little,  apple-faced  man  with  a  large  brain  and 
pleasant  manners  but  no  presence."  His  wife,  "Dolly"  Madison, 
however,  "a  fine,  portly,  buxom  dame,'*  amply  supplied  the  qual- 
ities wanting  in  her  husband,  her  career  as  mistress  of  the  Man- 
sion extending  over  practically  four  terms  and  eclipsing  that  of 
most  of  her  contemporaries.     Her  first  term  as  mistress  in  her 

252 


THE  PRESIDENT  TYLER  PLATE 


THE  PRESIDENT  POLK  CHINA 


THE  PRESIDENT  PIERCE  RED-BANDED  SET  OF  CHINA 


THE  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  CHINA 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

oym  right  was  a  continuous  blaze  of  gayety,  her  toilets,  and 
especially  her  Paris  turbans  of  unheard-of  daring  and  elegance, 
having  been  many  times  described.  State  papers  show  that  Mrs. 
Madison  selected  a  state  dining  set  of  porcelain  and  a  quantity 
of  plate  for  use  in  the  President's  Mansion.  In  the  midst  of 
this  brilliancy  occurred  the  second  War  with  England,  the  British 
soldiers  entering  Washington  in  August,  1814,  as  Mrs.  Madison 
fled  leaving  the  table  spread  for  a  dinner  prepared  in  honor  of  our 
supposedly  victorious  officers.  A  wagon  had  been  hastily  heaped 
with  such  valuables  as  could  be  carried,  including  the  portrait  of 
Washington  which  now  holds  the  place  of  honor  above  the  man- 
tel in  the  Red  Room  of  the  White  House.  The  British  officers 
entered,  and  enjoyed  the  dinner  before  giving  orders  to  fire  the 
structure.  William  Lee,  who  later  on  had  charge  of  refurnishing 
and  redecorating  the  injured  building,  in  his  report  tells  how 
thorough  was  the  work  of  vandalism:  "There  was  no  recourse 
in  the  remnants  of  glass,  earthenware,  china,  linen,  etc.,  of  which 
scarcely  an  article  would  serve;  indeed,  we  may  say,  there  re- 
mained none  of  these  articles  fit  for  use."  Nevertheless,  a  num- 
ber of  pieces  of  a  beautiful  set  of  French  porcelain  now  known 
as  the  "Dolly  Madison  china"  are  claimed  to  have  escaped  the 
catastrophe,  and  two  examples  of  it — a  plate  and  a  tea  cup 
and  saucer — are  preserved  in  the  collection  of  presidential  ware. 
Another  piece  of  the  same  set,  which  Mrs.  Harrison  after  she 
became  mistress  of  the  Mansion  found  broken  in  three  parts  upon 
the  White  House  pantry  shelves  and  which  she  had  carefully  put 
together,  is  an  exquisite  punch-bowl  about  two  feet  in  height,  the 
bowl  upheld  by  figures  of  the  three  Graces  resting  upon  a  stand- 
ard. Restored  to  its  original  beauty,  the  punch-bowl  now  adorns 
a  small  table  in  the  private  White  House  dining  room.  The  de- 
sign which  this  set  displays  is  a  dainty  one  of  blue  and  gold,  its 
distinguishing  characteristics  being  the  wide  bands  filled  with 
small  gold  dots  and  bordered  with  fine  blue  and  gold  lines,  which 
encircle  each  specimen,  together  with  the  blue  and  gold  shield- 
shaped  decoration  filled  with  dots  which  marks  the  center  of  the 
flat  pieces.    The  cup  has  a  deep  gold  band  inside  the  rim.    The 

253 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

two  plates  of  another  set  in  the  Madison  group  upon  exhibition 
in  the  Corridor  are  also  of  French  porcelain,  the  deep  buff  rings 
carrying  a  series  of  wheel  patterns  outlined  in  black,  alternating 
with  a  conventional  branch-like  pattern. 

President  Madison  and  his  family  did  not  again  occupy  the 
Mansion,  being  forced  to  transfer  the  Executive  home  to  other 
quarters  upon  their  return  to  the  partially  ruined  Capital,  and  for 
a  year  they  lived  in  the  Octagon  House  wherein  was  ratified  the 
Treaty  of  Ghent.  This  house  is  still  preserved  in  its  original 
form,  and  in  a  circular  upper  room  the  table  upon  which  the  his- 
toric document  was  signed,  is  shown  to  visitors.  Mr.  Monroe 
came  into  office  as  the  final  repairs  were  being  put  upon  the  Presi- 
dent's House,  the  close  of  his  administration  seeing  the  semi-cir- 
cular South  Portico  added  to  the  original  front  of  the  mansion, 
as  it  appears  in  the  illustration  of  a  previous  chapter  of  this 
volume,  and  naturally  he  impressed  his  taste  upon  the  refurnish- 
ing. A  large  sum  of  money  was  appropriated  by  Congress,  and 
the  newly-elected  president,  accustomed  as  he  was  to  life  in  France 
and  being  in  sympathy  with  the  prevailing  Empire  styles  in  house- 
interior  decoration,  ordered  in  Paris  the  new  furniture,  plate,  and 
ornaments  of  that  decorative  period.  In  the  bills  describing  the 
contents  of  the  41  packages  which  arrived  at  Alexandria  from 
France,  one  reads  of  curtains,  screens,  candelabra,  candlesticks, 
mirrors,  lamps,  fauteuils,  consoles,  a  "set  of  table  china  of  gilded 
porcelain  for  30  people,"  a  "dessert  service  made  by  Dagoty,  with 
amaranth  border  and  five  vignettes  representing  Strength,  Ag- 
riculture, Commerce,  Art,  Science,  with  Arms  of  the  United 
States  in  center,"  and  many  other  dishes  besides.  The  dining 
room  being  as  yet  unfit  for  use,  state  dinners  were  given  in  the 
East  Room,  which  they  called  "the  banqueting  hall."  The  fa- 
mous "surtout  de  table,"  or  table  plateau,  which  to  this  day  is  oc- 
casionally unpacked  and  placed  upon  the  White  House  table,  was 
also  purchased  in  France  by  Monroe  at  a  cost  of  6000  francs — a 
piece  of  unwarranted  extravagance  in  the  eyes  of  his  political 
critics.  Mrs.  Taft,  in  her  charming  book,  "Recollections  of  Full 
Years,"  describes  this  table  piece,  which  is  13  and  one-half  feet 

254 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

long  and  two  feet  wide,  thus:  "Based  upon  oblong  plate  glass 
mirrors,  each  about  three  feet  in  length,  they  (the  separate  pieces) 
stretch  down  the  middle  of  the  table,  end  to  end,  a  perfect  riot 
of  festooned  railing  and  graceful  figures  upholding  crystal  vases. 
Then  there  are  large  gilded  candelabra,  center  vases  and  fruit 
dishes  to  match  .  .  .  appropriate  to  the  ceremony  with  which  a 
state  dinner  at  the  White  House  is  usually  conducted."  Several 
of  the  ornamental  clocks,  pieces  of  statuary  and  bric-a-brac  which 
Monroe  purchased  now  adorn  the  mantels  and  cabinets  of  the 
state  apartments  of  the  White  House.  Of  all  the  table  china 
which  the  mansion  boasted  during  this  administration,  however, 
but  three  pieces  have  as  yet  found  their  way  back  to  grace  the 
new  collection — a.  plate  and  cup  and  saucer  from  a  tea-set,  and  a 
plate  from  another  set.  The  two  match  pieces  carry  a  dainty 
scroll  and  lattice  design  in  red,  blue  and  gold,  while  the  odd  plate 
shows  a  dull  orange  rim  in  flat  tone  broken  at  the  edges  by  six 
groups  of  white  leaves ;  the  center  bears  a  bunch  of  flowers. 

The  John  Quincy  Adams  group,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  accom- 
panying illustration,  is  made  up  of  three  tall-stemmed  English 
wine  glasses  of  differing  size  and  form,  two  salt  cellars  of  Meis- 
sen ware  bearing  the  familiar  onion  pattern,  and  a  dinner  plate 
which  was  used  at  state  dinners  during  his  term  of  office.  The 
plate  is  of  French  porcelain,  the  flat  rim  carrying  a  decoration 
consisting  of  five  small  panels  of  pale  lavender  outlined  in  gold 
enclosing  two  white  interwoven  figures  resembling  sea-horses, 
these  alternating  with  a  wheel  pattern  and  scroll  in  gold.  A 
large  gold  rosette  marks  the  center. 

The  disturbing  events  of  Andrew  Jackson's  terms  of  office,  from 
the  "Pretty  Peggy  Eaton  aflfair"  which  disrupted  his  cabinet  at 
the  beginning,  to  the  mammoth  1400  pound  gift  cheese  which, 
standing  in  the  White  House  vestibule  and  served  to  all  comers 
to  his  farewell  entertainment,  gave  forth  an  odor,  not  of  sanctity, 
but,  as  one  who  was  present  remarked,  "like  that  to  which  the 
mephitic  gas  over  Avemus  must  be  faint  and  inocuous,"  are 
well  known  matters  of  history.  The  East  Room,  which  had  pre- 
viously been  lighted  with  candles  held  in  candlesticks  nailed  to 

255 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

the  wall,  was  now  fitted  with  chandeliers  suspended  from  the 
ceiling  and  gleaming  with  glass  prisms.  Large  gilt-framed  mir- 
rors, chairs  to  match  covered  with  damask,  rich  window  hang- 
ings, a  Brussels  carpet  of  pronounced  pattern,  and  bouquets  of 
artificial  flowers  set  in  painted  vases,  transformed  the  room  into 
a  reflection  of  the  mode  of  the  period.  Jackson  also  purchased 
a  quantity  of  tableware,  for  we  read  from  the  accounts  covering 
expenditures  for  the  White  House  in  1833 :  "One  set  of  French 
china,  for  dinner  with  the  American  eagle,  $1,500;"  "a  dessert  set, 
blue  and  gold,  with  eagle,  $1000;"  besides  plates,  cups  and 
saucers,  glass,  plate,  etc.,  etc.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  know 
that  President  Jackson  purchased  his  glassware  in  Pittsburgh,  as 
Congress  had  ordered  by  Act  of  1826,  but  for  his  porcelains  and 
silks  he  sent  to  France.  But  alas!  the  freshness  of  these  new 
furnishings  was  not  to  endure,  for  the  mobs  of  visitors  of  all 
ranks  of  life  who,  with  a  practice  of  democracy  exceeding  that 
of  Jefferson's  day,  thronged  the  receptions  of  the  "Hero  of  New 
Orleans,"  in  their  boisterous  efforts  to  secure  the  cake  and  punch 
which  the  waiters  were  serving  upset  the  trays  and  deluged  the 
curtains,  cushions  and  carpet,  while  bits  of  china  and  glass  were 
ground  underfoot.  Like  Jefferson,  President  Jackson  was  a 
widower,  the  lady  who  presided  over  his  official  home  being  the 
wife  of  his  secretary  (who  was  Mrs.  Jackson's  nephew),  Mrs. 
Emily  Tennessee  Donelson.  The  first  baby  said  to  have  been 
bom  in  the  Mansion  was  the  secretary's  child,  Mary  Emily  Don- 
elson, and  it  was  her  daughter.  Miss  Mary  R.  Wilcox,  who  placed 
as  a  memorial  to  her  mother  the  present  interesting  exhibit  of 
china,  glass,  and  plate  in  the  White  House  collection.  It  in- 
cludes a  two-branched  silver  candelabra  which  was  presented  to 
General  Jackson  by  Tammany  Hall  upon  the  occasion  of  a  visit 
to  that  organization,  one  side  of  the  pedestal  bearing  the  name 
Andrew  Jackson,  and  the  other  the  inscription:  "Our  Federal 
Union ;  It  Must  Be  Preserved."  There  are  also  two  round  open- 
work fruit-compotes  of  white  and  gold,  a  silver  tea  knife,  a  red 
Bohemian  glass  flower-vase,  a  finger  bowl,  a  cut  glass  decanter 
and  four  wine  glasses,  in  the  group.    An  interesting  recent  addi- 

256 


SPECIMENS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT  GRANT  COLLECTIOxM 


THE  FAMOUS  HAYES  SET  OF  PRESIDENTIAL  CHINA 


THE  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD  CHINA 


THE  PRESIDENT  ARTHUR  CHINA 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

tion  is  the  coffee  cup  and  saucer  to  be  seen  in  the  foreground  of 
the  illustration,  which  was  commonly  used  by  the  President  at 
breakfast  during  his  first  administration.  The  cup  is  large  and 
flaring  at  the  rim,  the  gold  band  being  much  worn  away.  We 
read  that  Jackson  found  great  solace  from  the  troubles  which 
beset  his  office  in  smoking  a  pipe,  sitting  by  himself  in  the  big 
south  room  of  the  second  story  and  puffing  the  smoke  up  the 
chimney  because,  as  he  explained  to  a  visitor,  Emily  Donelson 
disliked  the  smell  of  tobacco.  It  perhaps  brings  the  man  and  his 
time  a  little  nearer  to  us  to  look  upon  his  pipe-bowl  of  coarse 
green  clay  which  forms  a  part  of  the  exhibit. 

The  single  article  commemorating  Martin  Van  Buren's  occu- 
pancy of  the  historic  mansion,  an  elegant  silver  water  pitcher 
about  ten  inches  in  height,  is  curiously  suggestive  of  the  criti- 
cisms of  extravagance  made  by  his  political  enemies,  which  some- 
how Jackson  seemed  to  have  escaped.  But  it  would  appear  only 
natural  that  a  man  of  Van  Buren's  type,  a  bon  vivant  habituated 
to  luxury,  should  feel  the  necessity  of  thoroughly  renovating  the 
mansion  after  eight  years  of  a  regime  such  as  the  foregoing  had 
been.  The  carpets  were  taken  up  and  cleaned,  the  furniture  was 
repaired,  and  much  redecorating  was  done.  Quantities  of  wine 
glasses  and  fluted  decanters,  "blue-edged  dishes,  blue-printed 
plates,  gold  band  china  coffees,  willow  plates  and  dishes,"  were 
purchased.  The  "surtout,"  or  "pictured  tray,"  as  it  was  con- 
temptuously dubbed,  was  "dressed  up"  at  a  cost  of  $75.  Alto- 
gether, nearly  $27,000  were  spent,  and  a  critic  in  Congress 
accused  the  President  of  maintaining  a  "royal  establishment,"  in 
a  "palace  as  splendid  as  that  of  the  Caesars  and  as  richly  adorned 
as  the  proudest  Asiatic  mansion,"  the  special  objects  of  attack 
being  upon  one  occasion  the  silver  and  gold  plate  upon  the  table 
and  the  large  number  of  spittoons  in  the  halls  and  parlors !  '. '  ^ 
silver  pitcher  was  presented  to  the  collection  by  Mrs.  Hele 
Singleton  Green  of  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  whose  aunt,  Mrs. 
Angelica  Singleton  Van  Buren,  was  mistress  of  the  White  House 
during  President  Van  Buren's  administration,  and  from  whom 
she  inherited  the  relic. 

257 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

William  Henry  Harrison  occupied  the  office  of  President  but 
one  month,  and  his  wife  on  account  of  ill  health  was  unable  to 
leave  her  Ohio  home  to  accompany  him  to  Washington  at  the 
time  of  his  inaugural.  A  plate  and  a  cup  and  saucer  which  had 
been  presented  to  General  Harrison  at  a  previous  time  represent 
this  administration  in  the  White  House  Collection.  They  were 
sent  by  Miss  Mary  Reynolds  of  Washington,  District  of  Colum- 
bia, whose  mother  was  a  granddaughter  of  President  Harrison. 
They  are  of  English  manufacture,  the  cream  colored  surfaces 
being  decorated  in  black  with  landscape  scenes,  which  are  pos- 
sibly intended  for  types  of  our  western  country  spaces  which  wit- 
nessed his  Indian  campaigns.  An  interesting  ceramic  memento 
of  the  lively  Harrison  political  campaign  is  to  be  found  in  the 
old  English  pieces  of  Staffordshire  pottery  which  picture  the 
famous  log-cabin,  together  with  the  cider  barrel  which  so  popu- 
larly figured  beside  it. 

President  Tyler,  who  was  the  first  Vice-President  to  receive 
promotion  to  the  Presidency  in  mid-term,  is  called  to  our  minds 
by  the  three  objects,  a  porcelain  plate  and  a  pair  of  Sheffield 
plate  fruit  baskets,  which  make  up  his  exhibit.  The  fruit  bas- 
kets are  a  loan  from  Judge  D.  Gardiner  Tyler  of  Williamsburg, 
Virginia,  and  are  of  a  peculiar  design  of  twisted  cord.  They  are 
of  special  interest  from  the  fact  that  they  were  sent,  among  other 
valuable  articles,  by  Mr.  Tyler  in  the  troublous  times  of  1862 
from  his  home  on  the  James  River  to  Richmond,  Va.,  for  safe 
keeping,  and  were  burned  in  the  partial  destruction  of  that  city 
by  the  Northern  soldiers  in  the  year  1865.  None  of  the  silver 
remains  upon  the  body  of  the  ware,  and  both  standards  have 
been  melted  off.  The  dinner  plate  is  of  French  porcelain,  the 
rim  decoration  being  a  design  of  wheat  and  stalk  in  gold  outline, 
and  in  the  center  a  bunch  of  nasturtiums  in  natural  tints  upon  a 
chocolate-colored  ground.  The  plate  is  loaned  to  the  collection 
by  Mrs.  William  M.  Ellis,  of  Shawsville,  Va.,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  President  Tyler. 

The  illustration  here  given  of  the  President  Polk  relics  pre- 
sents but  a  partial  display  of  the  White  House  group,  the  pieces 

258 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

of  greatest  beauty  and  interest  in  it  being  the  tall,  diamond- 
shaped,  lattice  work  fruit-compote  and  the  plate  and  cup  and 
saucer  of  a  state  set.  The  design  upon  these  pieces  is  composed 
of  pink,  gold-bordered  bands  broken  with  vignettes  enclosing 
brilliantly  plumaged  birds,  the  plate  carrying  also  a  bunch  of 
violet  morning  glories  in  the  center.  They  are  of  old  Dresden 
manufacture,  and  were  presented  by  Mrs.  George  W.  Fall  of 
Nashville,  Tenn.,  a  niece  of  Mrs.  Polk,  who  is  the  fortunate  pos- 
sessor of  many  of  the  personal  relics  of  the  Polk  administration. 
A  curious  old-time  finger  and  mouth  bowl,  with  a  separate  com- 
partment for  each  member  to  be  cleansed,  a  deep  blue  Bohemian 
glass  goblet,  a  small  glass  vase,  and  a  cut  glass  wine  glass,  may 
also  be  seen  in  the  illustration;  while  the  White  House  Collec- 
tion includes,  in  addition,  two  plates  of  elaborate  designs,  each 
one  bearing  the  United  States  shield  in  color,  and  several  pieces 
of  white  and  colored  glass. 

During  President  Polk's  term  of  office  occurred  the  war  with 
Mexico,  resulting  in  the  annexation  of  California  and  the  great 
southwestern  area  of  the  United  States,  and  it  was  a  natural 
consequence  that  his  successor  should  be  a  hero  of  that  brilliant 
campaign.  General  Zachary  Taylor,  dubbed  by  his  soldiers  "Old 
Rough  and  Ready,"  and  his  family  left  their  Baton  Rouge  home 
with  reluctance  to  take  up  their  residence  in  the  White  House, 
bringing  with  them,  it  is  said,  only  a  family  negro  servant,  a 
favorite  dog,  and  the  horse  the  General  had  ridden  through  the 
Mexican  War.  During  the  year  and  a  half  of  the  Taylor  regime, 
which  was  suddenly  ended  by  his  death,  the  East  Room  was 
again  refurbished  to  suit  the  tastes  of  its  good-housekeeping  oc- 
cupants. A  new  carpet  was  purchased  for  it,  its  walls  were 
redecorated,  and  gas  replaced  the  candles  in  the  crystal  chande- 
liers. An  entire  shelf  in  the  White  House  Collection  is  filled 
with  Taylor  relics,  a  portion  of  which  were  presented  by  the 
great-grandchildren  of  the  President,  the  children  of  Captain 
John  Taylor  Wood,  the  President's  grandson,  and  another  por- 
tion by  his  granddaughter,  Mrs.  Walter  R.  Stauffer  of  New 
Orleans,  La.     No  porcelain  is  included  in  the  group,  which  dis- 

259 


I  THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

plays  a  black  enameled  brooch  containing  a  braided  lock  of 
President  Taylor's  hair,  which  was  once  worn  by  his  wife,  a  de- 
canter and  three  wine  glasses,  a  pair  of  silver  candlesticks,  a  pair 
of  Mexican  spurs,  and  the  gold  head  to  a  walking  stick.  The 
unexpired  term  of  President  Taylor  was  filled  by  Vice-President 
Millard  Fillmore.  The  Fillmore  representation,  which  by  the 
way  it  is  hoped  may  some  day  be  augmented  by  other  interesting 
pieces,  is  now  made  up  of  a  large  deep-blue  Staffordshire  platter, 
a  vegetable  dish  decorated  in  the  green  shade  of  the  late  period 
of  Staffordshire,  and  a  blue  and  white  Canton  soup  plate,  the 
gifts  of  Mrs.  E.  B.  Terry  and  Miss  Cornelia  Burtis  of  Buffalo. 

One  of  the  distinctive  exhibits  in  the  collection  is  that  of  the 
Franklin  Pierce  administration,  being  a  large  group  of  the  beau- 
tiful red-banded  porcelain  which  graced  the  White  House  table 
during  his  term  of  office.  The  most  striking  piece,  as  is  usual 
in  the  earlier  groups,  is  the  fruit-compote,  this  one  being  of  the 
round,  lattice  work  variety,  with  bands  of  the  rich  deep  red 
which  characterize  the  set  encircling  the  standard  and  the  bowl. 
A  graceful  gravy-boat  and  tray,  two  plates,  a  covered  oval  vege- 
table dish,  a  tea  cup  and  saucer  and  a  preserve  dish  complete 
the  group  in  the  collection,  which  vies  in  beauty  and  in  popular 
interest  with  the  Jefferson  and  the  Lincoln  exhibits.  It  is  also 
of  interest  to  recall  the  fact  that  to  President  Pierce  the  field  of 
American  letters  is  no  doubt  indebted  for  much  of  the  work 
of  Nathaniel  Hawthorne.  The  author  was  a  classmate  and  per- 
sonal friend  of  the  President,  who  gave  him  the  appointment 
of  consul  at  Liverpool,  and  thereby  enabled  him  to  make  those 
European  studies  with  the  rich  result  of  which  the  world  is  fa- 
miliar. 

James  Buchanan  was  a  bachelor,  which  possibly  may  have 
something  to  do  with  the  meagerness  of  his  display  now  in  the 
White  House,  three  pieces  of  porcelain  only  marking  his  adminis- 
tration. One  of  them  is  a  plate  which  belonged  to  a  Sevres  ban- 
quet set  purchased  by  him  from  an  early  French  minister  to  this 
country,  and  which  was  presented  to  the  collection  by  the  Presi- 
dent's nephew  and  ward,  Mr.  James  Buchanan  Henry  of  An- 

260 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

napolis,  Md.,  to  whom  it  descended.  The  plate  has  a  deep 
pinkish  lavender  rim  outlined  on  either  edge  with  heavy  bands  of 
gold,  while  the  center  carries  tall  growing  tulips  and  a  droop- 
ing tree  set  upon  a  terrace  overlooking  distant  hills.  A  tea  cup 
and  saucer  and  a  small  coffee  cup  and  saucer  complete  this  ex- 
hibit. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Roosevelt  porcelain,  no  other  exhibit 
elicits  so  many  expressions  of  admiration  from  passing  visitors 
as  does  the  Lincoln  group,  which  was  selected  from  the  remains 
of  a  state  set  chosen  by  Mrs.  Lincoln.  It  is  of  Haviland  make, 
and  wide  bands  of  crimson-lilac  edged  with  lines  of  plain  gold 
and  of  dots,  together  with  a  spirited  representation  of  the  United 
States  Arms  in  bright  colors  upon  a  gold-clouded  ground,  char- 
acterize the  decoration.  The  dish-forms  are  likewise  arresting, 
the  plates  being  scalloped,  the  water  pitcher  graceful,  and  the 
compote  high  and  imposing.  The  little  custard-cup  is  unique  in 
the  collection,  and  a  large  punch  bowl  which  lack  of  space  does 
not  now  permit  of  exhibiting  will  be  added  as  soon  as  more  com- 
modious quarters  are  prepared.  Large  quantities  of  this  set, 
most  of  it  damaged  by  breakage,  have  survived  to  grace  private 
collections  of  historic  porcelains,  the  Dickins  loan  collection  in  the 
National  Museum  in  Washington,  D.  C,  possessing  a  large  num- 
ber of  Lincoln  pieces.  Vice-President  Andrew  Johnson,  who 
served  out  Lincoln's  unexpired  term  of  office  as  President  of  the 
United  States,  is  as  yet  without  representation  in  the  White 
House  Collection  of  Presidential  china. 

A  peculiar  interest  attaches  to  the  President  Grant  exhibit  of 
specimens  of  a  state  set  ordered  for  his  administration,  for  it  is 
the  first  one  which  attempts  to  incorporate  in  the  decorative  de- 
sign a  motif  wholly  characteristic  of  this  country.  While  the 
porcelain  is  of  French  manufacture,  each  piece  carries  a  natural 
spray  of  American  wild  flowers,  a  wide  variety  of  our  common 
flora  being  reproduced.  The  encircing  bands  are  of  buff  color, 
edged  with  gold  lines  and  broken  with  a  small  colored  reproduc- 
tion of  the  United  States  shield.  The  old-time  fruit-compote 
marks  the  end  of  that  style  of  dish  in  the  exhibit.     It  has  been 

261 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

stated  that  upon  the  occasion  of  Nellie  Grant's  wedding  in  the 
White  House,  an  additional  quantity  of  this  set,  minus  the  shield 
and  flowers,  was  ordered. 

Perhaps  no  more  striking  example  of  the  popular  taste  of  a 
period  will  it  be  possible  to  find  among  any  group  of  historic  relics 
than  is  to  be  seen  in  the  specimens  of  porcelain  selected  from  the 
state  set  which  was  ordered  for  the  White  House  by  Mrs.  Hayes, 
the  largest  set,  it  is  claimed,  ever  brought  into  the  Executive  Man- 
sion, Mrs.  Hayes  having  an  additional  sideboard  made  to  accom- 
modate it.  The  Hayes  group  is  never  overlooked  by  passersby, 
and  the  comments  one  hears  upon  the  decorations  vary  with  the 
art  education  of  the  beholder.  The  porcelain  is  Limoges,  but 
both  forms  and  decorations  were  designed  by  the  American  artist, 
Theodore  Davis,  his  name  together  with  a  colored  reproduction 
of  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Republic  being  put  upon  the  back  of  all 
original  pieces.  Here  is  realism  in  decorative  art  carried  far; 
Flaubert,  one  may  venture  to  suggest,  transmuted  into  porcelain. 
The  forms  are  varied  to  suit  special  uses,  while  the  scheme  of 
design  embraces  no  less  ambitious  a  field  than  the  reproduction  of 
the  flora  and  fauna  of  the  United  States,  the  present  exhibit  hav- 
ing been  selected  largely  from  the  latter  division.  The  post  of 
honor  is  held  by  a  large  turkey  platter  bearing  what  at  first  glance 
appears  to  be  a  genuine  barnyard  fowl,  strutting  in  a  snow-cov- 
ered field,  against  a  Turneresque  sky,  with  rows  of  Thanksgiving- 
time  trees  marking  the  far  horizon.  "A  turkey!  Isn't  that 
beautiful !"  exclaimed  a  small  boy  in  the  writer's  hearing,  the  bird 
no  doubt  connoting  in  his  mind  the  annual  American  feast.  A 
game-plate  beside  the  platter,  with  wild  deer  roaming  a  valley 
between  Sw'iss-like  mountains,  calls  to  mind  a  Landseer  or  a 
Rosa  Bonheur  canvas,  while  the  small  plate  which  seemingly 
holds  a  snowshoe  in  raised  gold  upon  a  pink  ground  was  thus 
designed  to  heighten  the  enjoyment  of  ices  served  upon  it.  Two 
shell-shaped  plates  bear  ocean  scenes,  while  the  small  coffee  cup 
and  saucer  are  odd  in  conception,  the  saucer  having  a  raised  coiled 
stem  in  which  to  set  the  cup.  The  handled  dish  and  tray  showing 
a  dainty  seashell  decoration  in  natural  tints  is  perhaps  the  most 

262 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

modest  and  attractive  of  the  group.     Naturally,  no  display  of 
wine  glasses  marks  this  cold  water  administration. 

The  few  months  which  James  A.  Garfield  and  his  family  spent 
in  the  historic  mansion  saw  no  additions  to  the  White  House 
table  service,  but  in  the  year  1907  Mrs.  Garfield  sent  to  the 
collection  at  Washington  three  pieces  of  a  Haviland  dinner  set 
which  for  many  years  had  been  in  the  family — a  low  fruit  dish, 
a  salad  bowl  and  a  plate.  The  buff  colored  band  upon  them  is 
edged  with  a  conventional  design  in  flat  gold,  and  each  piece  is 
marked  with  the  letter  "G."  A  well-painted  bunch  of  grapes 
fills  the  center  of  the  fruit  dish.  Chester  A.  Arthur,  who  took  up 
the  reins  of  government  upon  President  Garfield's  tragic  death, 
was,  like  President  Van  Buren,  fond  of  the  luxuries  of  life  and 
of  entertaining,  and  during  his  regime  the  White  House  received 
a  strong  impress  of  his  personal  taste.  Twenty-four  wagon  loads 
of  furniture  and  other  White  House  furnishings  which  he  con- 
sidered "decayed"  were  sold  at  public  auction,  5000  persons  at- 
tending, the  bidding  spirited  and  the  prices  high.  A  motley  array 
was  thus  disposed  of — the  entire  furniture  of  the  East  Room, 
carpets,  parlor  sets,  mattresses,  chandeliers,  bedroom  sets,  tables, 
lace  curtains,  lead  piping,  stoves,  etc.,  etc.,  the  lot  realizing  about 
$6000.  Under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Lx»uis  Tiffany  of  New  York, 
the  state  apartments  were  then  freshly  decorated  and  refurnished, 
the  opalescent  screen  of  Tiffany  glass,  which  remained  until  the 
Roosevelt  day,  being  at  this  time  set  between  the  long  corridor 
and  the  vestibule.  President  Arthur  was  fond  of  music,  of  cozy 
dinners,  and  of  intimate  social  entertainments,  and  the  private 
dining  room  which  he  regularly  used  was  made  elegant  according 
to  the  ideas  of  the  day,  with  heavy  gold  paper,  hangings  of  pome- 
granate plush,  and  crimson-shaded  lights.  The  new  president 
had  another  sideboard  made  to  match  the  one  that  was  ordered  by 
Mrs.  Hayes,  and  upon  it  were  displayed  specimens  of  the  Hayes 
set  of  porcelain.  The  tableware  which  he  himself  added,  if  one 
may  judge  from  the  plates  which  identify  his  administration,  was 
in  keeping  with  the  general  decorative  scheme  he  introduced. 
Vivid  color  and  large  patterns  mark  the  decorations,  one  plate 

263 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

bearing  a  single  rose  branch  in  the  center  around  which  butter- 
flies are  hovering.  Another  shows  two  cherubs  sporting  in  a 
field  of  daisies,  while  the  surface  of  still  another  is  entirely 
covered  with  decorative  motives  verging  toward  the  center,  the 
colors  being  deep  blue  and  pink. 

Before  Mrs.  Cleveland  entered  the  old  mansion  as  a  bride  and 
its  mistress,  a  general  housecleaning  had  taken  place,  including 
much  redecorating,  cleaning  of  carpets  and  repainting.  A  large 
order  for  a  service  of  glassware,  about  fifty  dozen  pieces,  the 
records  show,  was  given.  Comparatively  little  new  porcelain  was 
purchased  for  the  table,  that  which  Mrs.  Cleveland  selected  being 
of  simple  and  exquisite  taste,  the  examples  in  the  collection  elicit- 
ing much  admiration  from  visitors.  The  plates  are  of  Wedg- 
wood and  Minton  manufacture,  the  plain  centers  bordered  with 
narrow  bands  of  color,  scarlet,  green,  robin's  egg  blue,  etc.,  upon 
the  outer  rim.  One  dainty  plate  carries  a  narrow  wreath  of  tiny 
daisies  in  white  enamel  outlined  with  a  narrow  pink  line  and  bor- 
dered on  either  side  with  a  conventional  pattern  in  raised  gold. 
Upon  their  return  to  Washington  for  the  second  term,  the  Cleve- 
lands  for  a  great  part  of  the  time  occupied  a  suburban  home,  the 
administrative  offices  of  the  Government  having  encroached  to 
such  an  extent  upon  the  living  quarters  that  the  White  House  was 
inadequate  for  family  life.  The  suggestion  was  made  at  this 
time  to  provide  a  separate  building  for  the  Executive  Offices,  but 
nothing  was  done  in  the  matter,  however,  until  Mr.  Roosevelt 
came  into  power. 

Like  the  Cleveland  exhibit,  that  of  the  Benjamin  Harrison  ad- 
ministration declares  a  taste  simple  and  refined.  Mrs.  Harrison, 
being  artistic  and  original,  designed  the  decorations  for  the  new 
china  herself,  using  a  combination  of  the  goldenrod  (which  she 
wished  to  have  adopted  as  the  national  flower)  and  Indian  com, 
which  appears  in  flat  gold  over  the  underglaze  blue  rims  of  two 
of  the  plates,  and  over  the  outer  white  rim  of  the  center  plate, 
as  they  are  arranged  in  the  illustration.  A  row  of  golden  stars 
lines  the  inside  of  the  plates,  while  upon  each  center  is  embla- 

264 


THE  PRESIDENT  CLEVELAND  CHINA 


THE  BENJAMIN  HARRISON  CHINA 


THE  PRESIDENT  McKINLEY  CHINA 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

zoned  the  United  States  Seal  in  color.  Three  pieces  of  exquisite 
glass  are  included  in  this  exhibit. 

The  McKinley  administration  is  represented  in  the  collection 
by  an  interesting  exhibit  of  three  plates  and  two  cups  and 
saucers,  selected  from  different  sets  which  the  family  used  in  the 
White  House.  One  plate  has  a  bluish  green  rim  overlaid  with  a 
pattern  in  flat  gold,  another  is  decorated  with  Dresden-like  fes- 
toons of  flowers,  while  the  third  displays  a  row  of  large  pink 
roses  upon  the  rim  and  a  conventional  gold  pattern  in  the  center. 
One  cup  and  saucer  matches  the  plate  first  described,  while  the 
second  carries  a  row  of  pink  rosebuds  as  a  motif. 

Whatever  comments  of  praise  or  curiosity  the  other  exhibits 
may  draw  from  the  stream  of  visitors  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  who  pass  through  the  Lower  Corridor,  one  hears  little 
but  unstinted  praise  for  the  Roosevelt  china,  even  from  the  less 
discerning.  While  engaged  in  making  a  study  of  the  collection, 
it  was  the  writer's  pleasure  to  linger  near  the  cabinet  which 
contains  this  group  and  listen  to  the  remarks  expressed  with  no 
fear  of  lese  majeste.  "Very  plain  china,"  a  woman  ventured, 
who  evidenty  would  prefer  upon  her  own  table  the  more  showy 
specimens  she  had  just  passed  on  her  way  to  the  glories  of  the 
East  Room  above.  "Yes,  but  he  is  a  plain  man,"  a  masculine 
voice  at  her  side  explained.  "She  had  it  made  in  Paris !"  volun- 
teered a  knowing  one.  "Plain  and  elegant"  were  often  upon  the 
lips.  One  enthusiastic  admirer  of  the  ex-President  exclaimed 
with  fervor :  "The  Roosevelt  china  is  all  right  I"  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Roosevelt  were  fond  of  and  justly  appreciated  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  White  House  as  a  national  home  for  this  great 
Republic,  and  to  them  is  due  much  praise  for  its  complete  res- 
toration to  suitable  service,  as  well  as  to  the  historic  form  of  its 
original  designers.  So  thorough  was  the  work  of  restoration 
and  improvement  during  their  regime  that  in  all  probability 
the  old  mansion,  so  indelibly  impressed  with  the  intimate  and 
varied  associations  of  more  than  a  century  of  public  life  in 
a  newly  established  country,  will  remain  for  many  years  in  its 

265 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

present  state.  In  the  general  scheme  of  restoration,  it  was  but 
fitting  that  a  distinctive  table  service  of  porcelain  should  be 
included.  The  subject  was  given  careful  consideration  by  Mrs. 
Roosevelt,  who,  out  of  a  large  number  of  designs  submitted  by 
noted  factories  and  distinguished  decorators,  selected  the  simple 
Colonial  pattern  upon  Wedgwood  ware  which  the  illustration 
presents.  The  design  is  traced  in  flat  gold  and  each  piece  carries 
a  correct  representation  of  the  Great  Seal  of  the  United  States, 
as  it  was  adopted  in  the  year  1782.  As  may  be  observed  in 
some  of  the  other  exhibits,  peculiar  liberties  have  at  times  been 
taken  in  the  presentation  of  this  national  emblem,  but  the  Seal 
as  it  appears  upon  the  Roosevelt  china  may  be  studied  as  correct. 
The  Roosevelt  design  is  protected  by  patent  and  copyright  for 
the  exclusive  use  of  the  Executive  Mansion. 

As  has  already  been  stated,  Mrs.  Taft  admired  the  china  of 
her  predecessor  in  power,  and  merely  filled  up  broken  sets  to  a 
number  necessary  for  100  covers.  She  enjoyed  using  the  old 
historic  pieces  in  the  mansion  at  small  dinners  and  luncheons, 
there  being  a  sufficient  quantity  of  plates  of  the  Lincoln  set 
upon  the  shelves  of  the  mezzanine  floor  of  the  White  House 
pantry  to  serve  a  course  for  thirty  persons.  The  present  Wilson 
administration  likewise  follows  precedent  in  the  use  of  the 
Roosevelt  porcelain. 


266 


CHAPTER  B 

Checking  List  of  American  Views  Found  upon  English 

Old  Pottery 

Reprinted  from  "Anglo-American  Pottery"  by  permission  of  the  author, 
Dr.  Edwin  Atlee  Barber. 

FOLLOWING  the  titles  of  the  American  views  in  the  list 
below,  names  or  initials  frequently  appear  in  brackets. 
These,  sometimes  together  with  the  title  of  the  decoration 
on  the  face,  the  collector  will  find  either  printed  or  impressed 
upon  the  back  of  many  pieces  of  Staffordshire  pottery ;  and  they 
are  the  surest  means  of  identification. 

Wood  refers  to  Enoch  Wood,  who  began  potting  in  Burslem  in 
1783,  the  firm  name  being  at  various  times  Wood  and  Caldwell, 
Enoch  Wood  &  Co.,  and  Enoch  Wood  &  Sons.  The  great 
bulk  of  their  output  has  the  name  Enoch,  or  E.  Wood  &  Sons, 
either  impressed  or  stamped  on  the  back.  Sometimes  the  name 
is  accompanied  with  a  wreath,  scroll,  or  eagle,  and  the  motto, 
E  Pluribus  Unum.  The  most  characteristic  Wood  border  on 
American  views  is  the  Sea-Shell  Pattern.  The  scroll-medallion 
design  containing  inscriptions,  which  frames  the  Landing  of  the 
Pilgrims  engraving,  is  also  by  Wood ;  and  the  one  composed  of  a 
beautiful  flower  and  foliage  combination  which  circles  the  various 
views  upon  Lafayette's  estate  in  France.  At  a  later  date,  the 
firm  used  colors  other  than  deep  blue — brown,  red,  light  blue, 
green,  etc. — for  American  views.  They  also  produced  much 
scenery  of  countries  other  than  America :  England,  Italy,  Africa, 
India,  etc.,  as  well  as  a  series  of  Scriptural  designs. 

The  potter  A.  Stevenson  made  many  beautiful  sets,  some  of 
his  American  views  being  painted  from  nature  by  the  artist  W.  G. 

267 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Wall,  whose  name  frequently  appears  upon  the  back.  His  bor- 
ders are  flower  wreaths  and  scrolls. 

James  Clews  was  a  prolific  potter,  using  various  border  designs, 
the  two  best  known  American  ones  being  the  "States,"  with  fes- 
toons containing  names  of  fifteen  States,  and  that  around  the 
Landing  of  Lafayette  print.  His  later  American  output  appears 
in  various  colored  prints,  such  as  the  "Picturesque  Views"  series 
of  Hudson  River  scenery,  copied  from  Wall's  paintings  and  bor- 
dered with  a  device  of  birds  and  flowers.  In  addition  to  views  of 
English  cathedrals  and  castles,  Qews  issued  three  popular  sets 
which  are  highly  prized  by  old-china  lovers — ^the  Dr.  Syntax,  the 
Don  Quixote,  and  the  Sir  David  Wilkie  series.  The  characteristic 
Qews  mark  is  a  circle  impressed  in  the  biscuit,  with  a  crown  inside, 
and  the  words,  "Clews  Warranted  Staffordshire." 

/.  &  IV.  Ridgway  refers  to  an  important  pottery  conducted  by 
the  brothers  John  and  William  Ridgway,  which  turned  out  a  set 
of  dark  blue  designs  called  "Beauties  of  America."  The  border 
is  easily  identified,  being  a  series  of  rose  leaf  medallions.  In  1830, 
the  firm  dissolved,  and  John  Ridgway  issued  among  others  the 
Log-Cabin  view  with  the  Columbian  star  border,  during  the  W. 
H.  Harrison  campaign  of  1840.  This  is  found  in  black,  brown, 
pale  blue,  etc.  William  Ridgway,  a  brother  of  John,  also  turned 
his  attention  to  the  American  market,  his  prints  being  of  a  late 
period  of  Staffordshire  in  the  colors  of  that  time.  A  narrow  lace 
or  moss  border  belongs  to  him. 

The  name  Joseph  Stubhs  stands  for  a  series  of  handsome  dark 
blue  American  designs,  enclosed  in  a  border  emblematic  of  early 
America,  an  arrangement  of  flowers  and  scrolls  bound  together 
by  eagles  with  half  spread  wings.  Dr.  Barber  states  that  all 
pieces  bearing  this  border  are  known  to  have  been  made  by  Stubbs. 

S.  Tarns  &  Co.  used  for  a  border  device  a  very  graceful  ar- 
rangement of  growing  trees,  with  the  foliage  meeting  at  the  top. 
The  Tarns  specimens  are  printed  in  a  rich  deep  blue. 

The  name  T.  Mayer  on  the  back,  and  the  three  border  stripes 
which  call  to  mind  the  stripes  woven  in  certain  rugs  of  Turkish 
make,  the  center  one  carrying  a  running  vine  of  trumpet  flowers 

268 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

and  leaves,  mark  the  important  series  put  out  by  the  firm  of  that 
name.  A  reproduction  of  the  Arms  of  the  original  States  of  the 
Union  characterizes  the  center  of  the  plates  and  platters. 

The  letters  R.  S.  W.,  or  R.  S.  &  W.,  or  simply  R.  S.,  stand  for 
Ralph  Stevenson  and  Williams,  potters  of  Cobridge,  Staffordshire. 
The  well-known  acorn  and  oak  leaf  border  belongs  to  them,  also 
a  beautiful  wreath  of  vine  leaves,  and  a  lace  border  of  a  later 
period.  The  Erie  Canal  at  Buffalo  illustration  in  Chapter  XIV 
is  a  Ralph  Stevenson  design  printed  in  purple. 

The  pottery  under  the  name  of  William  Adams,  or  W.  Adams 
&  Sons,  is  printed  in  deep  blue  as  well  as  in  the  tones  character- 
istic of  the  later  period  of  Staffordshire  manufacture  for  the 
American  market.  They  turned  out  a  series  of  American  views 
in  various  borders,  as  well  as  the  Columbus  series  which  are 
described  in  chapter  VII  of  this  volume. 

The  Rogers  mark  indicates  a  small  group  of  Boston  views  done 
in  deep  blue  by  the  Burslem  pottery  works  of  John  and  George 
Rogers,  the  firm  later  on  becoming  John  Rogers  and  Son. 

E.  J.  Phillips  &  Co.  had  a  pottery  at  Longport  in  the  Stafford- 
shire country,  their  characteristic  American  view  being  the  Frank- 
lin's Tomb  design.    Very  little  is  known  of  them. 

/.  &  J.  Jackson  used  a  pretty  floral  device  for  a  border  and 
printed  in  red,  light  blue,  lilac,  black,  brown,  etc.,  a  long  list  of 
American  scenes  of  great  interest  and  value  to  the  collector,  the 
number  including  the  early  view  of  the  White  House  in  Washing- 
ton which  is  reproduced  in  this  volume. 

The  name  Godwin  refers  to  the  potter  Thomas  Godwin,  who 
used  a  characteristic  border  device  of  convolvulus  and  nasturtiums. 
The  prints  appear  in  green,  brown,  light  blue,  etc. 

Davenport  is  the  mark  found  in  pieces  made  by  the  firm  of 
Davenport  and  Co.  at  Longport,  Staffordshire.  They  turned  out 
excellent  pottery,  but,  unlike  their  contemporaries  in  the  same 
field,  they  did  not  cater  to  the  American  market  to  any  great 
extent.  Dr.  Barber  mentions  but  one  specimen  with  this  mark,  a 
view  of  the  city  of  Montreal. 

C.  M.  stands  for  Charles  Meigh,  who  between  1830  and  1840 

269 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

produced  a  set  of  American  views  in  various  colors,  bordered  with 
fine  mosses  and  chickweed. 

T.  G.  or  Thomas  Green  is  the  potter  who  is  mentioned  in  another 
part  of  this  volume  as  the  one  whose  sole  output  for  this  country 
deals  with  the  Treaty  of  William  Penn  with  the  Indians.  These 
prints  appear  in  the  various  lighter  shades  and  black. 

/,  H.  &  C,  or  Joseph  Heath  &  Co.,  are  best  known  here 
for  their  Richard  Jordan  design,  a  pretty  landscape  scene  display- 
ing a  roadway  leading  to  the  residence,  a  fine  one  for  that  day, 
of  the  eminent  Quaker  preacher,  Richard  Jordan,  at  Newton, 
Gloucester  County,  N.  J.  A  figure  in  Quaker  hat  and  clothing 
appears  in  the  foreground.  Other  views  of  this  country  were 
also  turned  out  by  the  Heath  pottery. 

Edwards,  or  /.  &  T.  Edwards,  as  the  firm  was  known,  sent 
over  a  small  number  of  American  views  in  the  late  colors,  show- 
ing the  "Boston  Mails"  series  of  steamships  in  the  border. 

John  Tarns  printed  in  light  blue,  under  commission  by  a  wealthy 
citizen  of  Philadelphia,  two  souvenir  designs  upon  china,  one 
being  a  portrait  of  Henry  Clay,  "  Star  of  the  West,"  and  the 
other  that  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  "  Hero  of  the  Thames, 

1813." 

M.  V.  &  Co.,  Mellor,  Venables  &  Co.,  of  Burslem,  did  a 
series  of  American  views  in  various  colors,  within  a  border  of 
medallions  containing  the  Arms  of  the  early  States. 

7.  B.  According  to  Dr.  Barber,  these  initials  are  not  positively 
identified.  The  firm  produced  the  American  design  known  as  the 
"Texian  Campaign." 

F.  M.  &  Co.,  Francis  Morley  and  Co.,  were  potters  at  Hanley, 
England,  and  but  one  design,  "American  Marine,"  in  various 
colors  within  a  border  of  ships  and  cordage  is  known  to  have 
come  from  them. 

G.  L.  A.  &  Bro.,  George  L.  Ashworth  and  Brother,  succeeded 
the  above-mentioned  firm  in  the  year  1859,  and  continued  to  print 
the  same  design. 

r.  F.  &  Co.,  Thomas  Ford  and  Co.,  Hanley,  England,  fur- 

270 


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POTTERS'  :vIARKS 

I.     Clews  2.     G.  L.  Ashworth  &  Bro.  3.     Clews  4.     R.  Hall 

5.     Enoch  Wood  6.     i?.  //a//  7.     PF.  Adams 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

nish  a  blue  design  of  the  American  eagle  with  a  shield  stand- 
ing upon  a  globe. 

C.  C.  Dr.  Barber  states  that  several  Staffordshire  potters 
might  claim  these  initials,  but  in  the  absence  of  positive  knowledge 
the  name  of  the  maker  cannot  be  stated  definitely.  The  border 
device  is  designated  on  the  back  of  these  pieces  as  "Catskill  Moss." 

In  addition  to  his  marked  pieces,  the  collector  will  find  many  of 
his  specimens  unmarked.  Two  reasons  account  for  this.  First, 
not  all  pieces  of  a  set  were  originally  marked,  and  second,  a  large 
number  of  finely  drawn  and  printed  American  views  are  still, 
owing  to  the  absence  of  distinguishing  marks  and  to  unidentified 
borders,  included  in  a  separate  list  of  "Unknown  Makers." 

The  collector  of  to-day  will  be  confronted  with  many  forgeries 
of  the  favorite  old  prints.  Until  recent  years,  it  has  been  im- 
possible for  potters  to  reproduce  the  deep  rich  blue  of  Old  Staf- 
fordshire, but  at  the  present  time,  reproductions  of  the  most 
sought  after  designs  are  so  skillfully  executed  as  to  make  detection 
the  work  of  an  expert.  The  Pennsylvania  Museum  of  Philadel- 
phia, in  order  to  instruct  the  student  of  ceramics,  has  had  placed 
a  number  of  originals  and  forgeries  side  by  side,  each  with  its 
true  designation.  The  American-made  dishes  of  to-day,  while 
very  like  in  every  other  respect,  are  as  a  rule  heavier  in  weight 
than  the  English  originals. 

DESIGNS  IN  DARK  BLUE 

Albany 

Albany  (Wood) 

Albany,  Dutch  Church 

American  Heroes — Washington,  etc. 

American  Villa 

Arms  of  the  U.  S. 

Baltimore 

Baltimore,  Alms  House 

Baltimore,  Court  House 

371 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Baltimore,  Exchange 

Baltimore,  Exchange  (R.  S.  W.) 

Baltimore,  Masonic  Hall 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  R.  R.,  Inclined  Plane  (Wood) 

Baltimore  and  Ohio  R.  R.  (Wood) 

Belleville  on  the  Passaic  River  (Wood) 

Boston,  Alms  House  (Ridgway) 

Boston,  Alms  House  (R.  S.) 

Boston,  Athenaeum  (Ridgway) 

Boston,  Court  House  (Ridgway) 

Boston,  Court  House  (R.  S.  W.), 

Boston  Harbor 

Boston,  Hospital  (Ridgway) 

Boston,  Hospital  (R.  S.) 

Boston,  Insane  Hospital  (Ridgway) 

Boston,  Lawrence  Mansion  (R.  S.) 

Boston,  Massachusetts  Hospital  (R.  S.) 

Boston,  Mitchell  and  Freeman's  China  and  Glass  Warehouse 

(Adams) 
Boston,  Nahant  Hotel,  near  (R.  S.  W.) 
Boston,  Nahant  Hotel,  near  (Stubbs) 
Boston,  Octagon  Church  (Ridgway) 
Boston,  State  House  (Ridgway 
Boston,  State  House  (R.  S.  W.) 
Boston,  State  House  (Wood) 
Boston,  State  House  (Rogers) 
Boston,  State  House  (Stubbs) 
Boston  State  House,  Chaise  (Rogers) 
Boston,  State  House,  Cows  (Rogers) 
Boston,  St.  Paul's  Church  (Ridgway) 
Brooklyn  Ferry  (R.  S.) 
Buenos  Ayres 
Bunker  Hill,  Battle  (R.  S.) 

Cadmus  (Trefoil  Border) 
Cadmus  (Wood) 

272 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

Catskill,  Hope  Mill  (Wood) 
Catskill  House,  Hudson  (Wood) 
Catskill  Mountains  (Wood) 
Catskills,  Pass  in  the  (Wood) 
Catskills,  Pine  Orchard  House  (Wood) 
Charleston,  Exchange  (Ridgway) 
Charleston,  Exchange  (R.  S.) 
Chillicothe 

Clinton  (St.  Paul's  Church,  N.  Y. ;  Rochester) 
Columbia  College  (Clews) 
Columbia  College  (R.  S.) 
Columbia  College  (R.  S.  W.) 
Columbia  College  (Stevenson) 
Columbus,  Ohio 
Connecticut,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 
Connecticut,  Arms  of  (Oliver  Stoke) 
"Constitution"  and  "Guerriere"  (Wood) 

Delaware,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 
Detroit 

Erie  Canal,  Albany 

Erie  Canal,  Albany  (Clews) 

Erie  Canal,  Albany  (Wood) 

Erie  Canal,  DeWitt  Clinton  Eulogy 

Erie  Canal,  Little  Falls,  N.  Y. 

Erie  Canal,  Little  Falls  (Wood) 

Erie  Canal,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

Erie  Canal,  Rochester  (Wood) 

Erie  Canal,  Utica 

Erie  Canal  Views 

Fishkill,  Near 
Fort  Gansevoort  (R.  S.) 
Fort  Gansevoort  (Stevenson) 
Franklin's  Morals 

273 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Franklin's  Tomb   (Phillips) 
Franklin's  Tomb  (Wood) 
Fulton's  Steamboat 

Georgia,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 
Gilpin's  Mills  (Wood) 
Governor's  Island  (Stevenson) 
Greensburg,  Tappan  Zee  from  (Wood) 

Harrisburg,  Pa.,  Capitol  at 

Hartford  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum  (Ridgway) 

Hartford,  State  House 

Harvard  College  (Ridgway) 

Harvard  College  (R.  S.  W.) 

Harvard  University 

Highlands  at  West  Point  (Wood) 

Highlands,  Hudson  (Wood) 

Highlands  near  Newburg  (Wood) 

Highlands,  North  River   (Stubbs) 

Hobart  Town 

Hoboken,  N.  J.  (Stubbs) 

Hudson  and  Sacandaga,  Junction  of  (Stevenson) 

Hurlgate,  East  River  (Stubbs) 

Indianapolis 

Jefferson  (Columbia  College) 

Jefferson,  Clinton  (Albany) 

Jefferson,  Clinton  (Massachusetts  Hospital) 

Jefferson,  Clinton  (Park  Theater,  N.  Y.) 

Jefferson,  Lafayette  (Covetham) 

Jefferson,  Lafayette  (Washington,  Capitol) 

Lafayette  (Stevenson) 
Lafayette  (Clews) 
Lafayette  and  Washington 

274 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

Lafayette,  Landing  of  (Clews) 

Lafayette,  "Republicans  Are  Not  Always  Ungrateful" 

Lafayette,  "Welcome  Lafayette,  the  Nation's  Guest" 

Lafayette,  "Welcome  to  the  Land  of  Liberty" 

Lake  George  (Wood) 

Lake  George,  On  the  Road  to  (Stevenson) 

Lexington,  Transylvania  University   (Wood)^ 

Livingston,  Chancellor  (Wood) 

Louisville 

Louisville,  Marine  Hospital  (Wood) 

Macdonough's  Victory  (Wood) 

Marshall,  Chief  Justice  (Wood 

Maryland,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 

Massachusetts,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 

Mendenhall  Ferry  (Stubbs) 

Montmorenci,  Fall  of  (Wood) 

Mount  Vernon  (Washington  Mounted) 

Mount  Vernon  (Washington  with  Horse) 

Mount  Vernon  (Wood) 

Mount  Vernon,  near  Washington  (Ridgway) 

Mount  Vernon,  Seat  of  Washington 

New  Jersey,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 
New  York  Alms  House  (Clews) 
New  York,  Alms  House  (Ridgway) 
New  York,  Alms  House  (R.  S.) 
New  York,  Alms  House  (Stevenson) 
New  York,  American  Museum  (R.  S.  W.) 
New  York,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 
New  York,  Battery  (R.  S.) 
New  York  Bay  (Qews) 
New  York  Bay  (Stubbs) 
New  York  Bay   (Wood) 
New  York,  Castle  Garden  (Trefoil  Border) 
New  York,  Castle  Garden  Battery  (Wood) 

275 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

New  York,  Catholic  Cathedral  (Stevenson) 

New  York,  Church,  Dr.  Mason's  (Stevenson) 

New  York,  Church,  Dr.  Mason's  (Stubbs) 

New  York,  City  Hall  (Clews) 

New  York,  City  Hall  (Ridgway) 

New  York,  City  Hall  (R.  S.) 

New  York,  City  Hall  (Stevenson) 

New  York,  City  Hall  (Stubbs) 

New  York,  City  Hotel  (R.  S.  W.) 

New  York,  Esplanade,  Castle  Garden  (R.  S.) 

New  York  from  Brooklyn  Heights  (Clews) 

New  York  from  Brooklyn  Heights  ( Stevenson )j 

New  York,  from  Weehawk  (Stevenson) 

New  York,  Fulton  Market  (R.  S.) 

New  York,  Hospital  (R.  S.) 

New  York,  Insane  Asylum  (Clews) 

New  York,  Park  Theatre  (R.  S.  W.) 

New  York,  St,  Patrick's  Cathedral 

New  York,  St.  Paul's  (R.  S.  W.) 

Niagara  (Stevenson) 

Niagara  Falls    (Wood) 

Niagara,  Table  Rock  (Wood) 

North  Carolina,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 

Passaic  Falls  (Wood) 
Peace  and  Plenty   (Clews) 
Pennsylvania,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 
Perry  Memorial  (Clews) 
Perry  Memorial  (Stevenson) 
Philadelphia 

Philadelphia,  A  View  near 

Philadelphia,  Bank  of  the  United  States  (Stubbs) 
Philadelphia,  Dam  and  Water  Works  (Side  Wheel) 
Philadelphia,  Dam  and  Water  Works  (Stem  Wheel) 
Philadelphia,  Fairmount,  near  (Stubbs) 
Philadelphia,  Library  (Ridgway) 

276 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

Philadelphia,  Masonic  Temple 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania  Hospital  (Ridgway) 
Philadelphia,  Staughton's  Church  (Ridgway) 
Philadelphia,  United  States  Hotel 
Philadelphia,  Upper  Ferry  Bridge  (Stubbs) 
Philadelphia,  Water  Works  (R.  S.  W.) 
Philadelphia,  Woodlands,  near  (Stubbs) 
Pilgrims,  Landing  of  (Wood) 
Pittsfield,  Winter  View  (Clews) 
Prentiss,  Henry,  and  His  Employ 

Quebec 
Quebec  (Wood) 

Rhode  Island,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 
Richmond 

Sandusky 

Savannah,  Bank  (Ridgway) 

Savannah,  Bank  (R.  S.) 

Ship  of  the  Line  (Wood) 

South  Carolina,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 

States  (Clews) 

Steamship,  American  Flag  (Wood) 

Trenton  Falls  (Wood) 

Troy  from  Mt.  Ida  (Stevenson) 

Union  Line  (Wood) 
University  of  Maryland 

Virginia,  Arms  of  (Mayer) 

Wads  worth  Tower  (Wood) 
Washington  (City) 
Washington  and  Lafayette 

277 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Washington  and  Lafayette  (R.  S.  and  W.) 

Washington,  Capitol  (Ridgway) 

Washington,  Capitol  (R.  S.) 

Washington,  Capitol  (R.  S.  W.) 

Washington,  Capitol  (Wood) 

Washington,  Clinton  (Boston  Hospital) 

Washington,  Clinton  (City  Hotel,  N.  Y.) 

Washington,  Clinton  (Faulkbourn  Hall) 

Washington,  Clinton  (Niagara) 

Washington,  Clinton  (Park  Theater) 

Washington,  Clinton  (Washington,  Capitol) 

Washington,  from  Mount  Vernon 

Washington,  full  length  with  scroll  (Wood) 

Washington,  Jefferson  (Capitol,  Washington) 

Washington,  Lafayette  (City  Hotel) 

Washington,  Lafayette  (Washington,  Capitol) 

Washington,  Lafayette,  Jefferson,  Ointon  (Faulkbourn  Hall) 

Washington,  Lafayette,  Jefferson,  Clinton  (Little  Falls) 

Washington,  Lafayette,  Jefferson,  Clinton  (Niagara) 

Washington,  Lafayette,  Jefferson,  Clinton  (Park  Theater,  Al- 
bany, N.  Y.) 

Washington,  Lafayette,  Jefferson,  Clinton  (Rochester) 

Washington,  Lafayette,  Jefferson,  Clinton  (Windsor  Castle,  Al- 
bany, N.  Y.) 

Washington,  Lafayette,  Jefferson,  Clinton  (Writtle  Lodge) 

Washington,  White  House  (Wood) 

Washington's  Tomb  (Wood) 

West  Point,  Military  Academy  (Wood) 

Wright's  Ferry,  Susquehanna 

DESIGNS  IN  VARIOUS  COLORS 

Alabama  (Bodley  and  Co.) 

Albany 

Albany  (Jackson) 

Albany,  City  Hall 

278 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

Albany  Theater  (1824) 

Albany,  Thorps  and  Sprague 

Allegheny,  Penitentiary  (Clews) 

"America,"  Eagle,  etc.  (T.  F.  and  Co.) 

America,  Triumphant 

America,  Whose  Militia,  etc. 

American  Flag  and  Liberty  Cap 

American  Heroes — Van  Rensselaer,  etc. 

American  Marine  (Ash worth) 

American  Marine  (F.  M.  and  W.) 

Anti-Slavery 

Arms  of  the  United  States  (Buzzard  and  Cannon) 

Arms  of  the  United  States  (Hammersley) 

Arms  of  the  United  States  (Hand  Colored) 

Bainbridge 

Baker's  Falls,  Hudson  (Clews) 

Baltimore 

Baltimore  (CM.) 

Baltimore  (Godwin) 

Baltimore,  Battle  Monument  (Jackson) 

Boston  and  Bunker  Hill  (Godwin) 

Boston,  Bunker  Hill  Monument 

Boston,  Court  House 

Boston  from  Chelsea  Heights  (C.  C.) 

Boston,  from  Dorchester  Heights  (C.  M.) 

Boston,  Hancock  House  (Jackson) 

Boston  Mails,  Gentlemen's  Cabin  (Edwards) 

Boston  Mails,  Ladies'  Cabin  (Edwards) 

Boston  Mill  Dam  (C.  M.) 

Boston,  State  House 

Boston,  State  House  (Jackson) 

Brooklyn  Ferry  (Godwin) 

Brown 

Buffalo  on  Lake  Erie  (E.  W.  and  S.) 

Caldwell,  Lake  George  (M.  V.  and  Co.) 

279 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Caldwell,  Lake  George  (W.  Ridgway) 

Capitol  Buildings,  States  (M.  V.  and  Co.) 

Catskill  Mountain  House  (Adams) 

Catskill  Mountain  House  (Jackson) 

Catskill  Mountains,  Pass  in  (E.  W.  and  S.) 

Clay,  Henry  (Tarns) 

Columbia  Bridge  (Godwin) 

Columbia  Bridge  on  the  Susquehanna  (W.  Ridgway) 

"Columbian  Star"  (J.  Ridgway) 

Columbus   (Adams) 

"Constitution"  and  "Guerriere" 

"Constitution,"  "Cyane"  and  "Levant" 

"Constitution's"  Escape  from  British  Squadron 

"Constitution"  Leaving  Boston  Harbor 

Constitution  of  United  States 

"Constitution"  (U.  S.  S.) 

Conway,  N.  H.,  View  near  (Adams) 

Cornwallis,  Surrender 

Decatur  (Bust) 

Decatur  (Free  Trade) 

Delaware  (J.  Ridgway) 

Delaware  Water  Gap,  Pa.  (W.  Ridgway) 

Dumb  Asylum 

Eagle  on  Rock  (Wood) 
"Enterprise"  and  "Boxer" 
Erie  Canal  at  Buffalo  (R.  S.) 

Fairmount  Water  Works  (Clews) 
Fayette  the  Nation's  Guest 
Fishkill,  Hudson,  near  (Clews) 
Fishkill,  Hudson  River,  from  (Clews) 
Fishkill,  Hudson  River,  near  (E.  W.  and  S.)] 
Fort  Conanicut  (Jackson) 
Fort  Edward,  Hudson  (Clews) 
Fort  Hamilton  (M.  V.  and  Co.) 

280 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

Fort  Hamilton,  The  Narrows 

Fort  Hamilton,  The  Narrows,  from  (Godwin) 

Fort  Hamilton,  The  Narrows,  from  (W.  Ridgway) 

Fort  Hudson,  N.  Y.  (Yellow) 

Fort  Millir,  Hudson,  near  (Clews)  / 

Fort  Montgomery,  Hudson  (Clews) 

Fort  Niagara 

Fort  Ticonderoga,  N.  Y.  (Jackson) 

Franklin  (Flying  Kite) 

Franklin  Industries 

Franklin's  Maxims 

Franklin's  Proverbs 

Fulton's  Steamboat  (?) 

Hadley's  Falls,  Hudson  (Clews) 

Harper's  Ferry  (Adams) 

Harper's  Ferry,  from  Potomac  Side  (W.  Ridgway) 

Harrison,  W.  H.  (Log  Cabin) 

Harrison,  W.  H.  (Log  Cabin) 

Harrison,  W.  H.  (Tams) 

Hartford,  Connecticut  (Jackson) 

Harvard  College 

Harvard  College  (E.  W.  and  S.) 

Harvard  Hall,  Massachusetts  (Jackson) 

Hudson  City  (CM.) 

Hudson,  Hudson  River  (Clews) 

Hudson,  Hudson  River,  near  (Clews) 

Hudson  River,  View  on  (Clews) 

Hull 

Humphreys,  U.  S.  (Adams) 

Jackson,  "Hero  of  New  Orleans"  (Wood) 
Jackson,  Major-General  Andrew  (Bust) 
Jessup's  Landing,  Hudson  River,  near  (Clews) 
Jones,  Captain 

Jordan,  Residence  of  the  late  Richard  (J.  H.  and  Co.) 

281 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Juniata,  Headwaters  of  (Adams) 

Kosciusko's  Tomb  (C.  C.) 

Lafayette  (Bust  and  Long  Inscription — Auvergne) 

Lafayette  (Bust)  Embossed  Border 

Lafayette  (Reverse,  Cornwallis) 

Lafayette  and  Washington  (Raised  Border) 

Lafayette  and  Washington  (Raised  and  Splotched  Border) 

Lafayette,  "Welcome  L.,  the  Nation's  Guest" 

Lake  George  (Adams) 

Lake  George  (Jackson) 

Lawrence  and  Decatur 

Lawrence,  "Don't  Surrender  the  Ship" 

Lexington,  Transylvania  University  (E.  W.  and  S.) 

Little  Falls,  Aqueduct  Bridge 

Little  Falls  at  Luzerne,  Hudson  River  (Clews) 

Little  Falls,  Mohawk  River  (Jackson) 

Little  Falls,  N.  Y.  (CM.) 

Little  Falls,  N.  Y.  (M.  V.  and  Co.) 

Log  Cabin  (J.  Ridgway) 

Love  joy,  1837 

"Macedonian" 

Macdonough's  Victory  on  Lake  Champlain 
Madison,  1815 

Merchants'  Exchange,  New  York  (Burning) 
Merchants'  Exchange,  New  York  (Ruins) 
Meredith  (C.  C.) 
Monterey  (J.  H.  and  Co.) 
Monte  Video,  Ct.  (Adams) 
Mont  Video,  Hartford  (Jackson) 
Montreal  (Davenport) 
Moral  Maxims  (Clews) 
Mormon 

Mount  Vernon  (Man  and  Horse) 

282 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

Mount  Vernon  (M.  V.  and  Co.) 
Mount  Vernon,  Seat  of  Washington 

Natural  Bridge,  Va.  (E.  W.  and  S.) 

Newburg,  Hudson  (Clews) 

Newburg,  Hudson,  View  from  Ruggles  House  (W.  Ridgway) 

Newburg,  N.  Y.  (Jackson) 

New  Haven,  Connecticut  (Jackson) 

New  Haven,  Yale  College  (Jackson) 

New  Orleans,  Old  Cathedral 

New  Orleans  (R.  S.) 

New  York,  (Adams) 

New  York,  Battery 

New  York,  Battery  (Jackson) 

New  York,  Castle  Garden  (Jackson)' 

New  York,  City  Hall  (C.  M.) 

New  York,  City  Hall  (Jackson) 

New  York,  Coenties  Slip 

New  York  from  Staten  Island  (E.  W.  and  S.) 

New  York  from  the  Bay  (Clews) 

New  York  from  Weehawken 

New  York,  Hudson  (Clews) 

Niagara 

Niagara  Falls  (Adams) 

Niagara  Falls  (E.  W.  and  S.) 

Niagara  Falls  (Large  House) 

Niagara,  Fort  (Adams) 

Odd  Fellows  (1845) 

Ontario  Lake  Scenery  (J.  H.  and  Co.) 

Peace,  Plenty  and  Independence 
Peekskill  Landing,  Hudson  (W.  Ridgway) 
Penn's  Treaty 
Penn's  Treaty  (T.  G.) 
Pennsylvania  (K.  E.  and  Co.) 

283 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

Perry  (Bust) 

Perry  (Full  length) 

Perry  (Inscription) 

Perry,  O.  H.,  Esq. 

Perry's  Victory,  Second  View  of 

Philadelphia,  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum  (Jackson) 

Philadelphia,  Dumb  Asylum 

Philadelphia,  Fairmount  Water  Works  (Clews) 

Philadelphia,  Fairmount  Water  Works  (E.  W.  and  S.) 

Philadelphia,  Girard's  Bank  (Jackson) 

Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania  Hospital  (W,  Ridgway) 

Philadelphia,  Schuylkill  Water  Works  (C.  M.) 

Philadelphia,  Schuylkill  Water  Works  (Godwin) 

Philadelphia,  The  Race  Bridge  (Jackson) 

Philadelphia,  The  Water  Works  (Jackson) 

Pike 

Pittsburg,  "Home"  and  "Lark"  Boats  (Clews) 

Pittsburg,  "Pennsylvania"  Boat  (Clews) 

Port  Putnam,  Hudson,  View  from  (W.  Ridgway) 

Richmond,  Court  House  (Jackson) 
Richmond,  Virginia,  at  (Jackson) 

Sacandaga  and  Hudson,  Junction  of  (Qews) 

Sandy  Hill,  Hudson  (Clews) 

Saugerties,  Iron  Works  (Jackson) 

Shannondale  Springs,  Virginia   (Adams) 

Shannondale  Springs,  Virginia  (Jackson) 

Shipping  Port  on  the  Ohio,  Kentucky  (E.  W.  and  S.)] 

Skenectady,  Mohawk  River  (Adams) 

Skenectady,  New  York  (Jackson) 

Soldiers  ("By  Virtue  and  Valor") 

States  (Wedgwood) 

"Texian  Campaign"  (J.  B.) 
Trenton  Falls  (E.  W.  and  S.) 

284 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

Troy,  Hudson  (Clews) 

Undercliff  near  Cold  Spring  (W.  Ridgway) 

"United  States"  and  "Macedonian" 

Utica  (C.  M.) 

Utica,  New  York 

Utica,  New  York  (Godwin) 

Valley  of  Shenandoah,  from  Jefferson's  Rock  (W.  Ridgway) 
Virginia  (Monument) 

Washington  and  Lafayette  "First  in  War,"  etc. 
Washington  (Bust,  Military  Hat) 
Washington  (French  Portrait) 
Washington  (Urn  Bearing  Name) 
Washington,  Capitol 
Washington,  Capitol  (C.  C.) 
Washington,  Capitol  (E.  W.  and  S.) 
Washington,  Capitol  (Godwin) 
Washington,  Capitol  (J.  Ridgway) 
Washington,  Capitol  (W,  Ridgway) 
Washington  Crossing  the  Delaware 
Washington,  Executive  Mansion 
"Washington  His  Country's  Father" 
Washington  Memorial  (Red  and  Green) 
Washington,  Monument  ("Sacred  to  the  Memory") 
Washington,  President's  House  (Jackson) 
Washington's  Tomb,  Mount  Vernon  ("Catskill  Moss") 
Washington's  Tomb,  Mount  Vernon  (M.  V.  and  Co.) 
Washington  Vase. 
Washington,  White  House 
"Wasp"  and  "Frolic" 
"Wasp"  and  "Reindeer" 
West  Point,  Hudson  (Clews) 
West  Point,  Military  School  (Adams) 
White  House  (M.  V.  and  Co.) 

285 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

White  Mountains,  New  Hampshire  (Adams) 
White  Sulphur  Springs,  Delaware,  Ohio  (Jackson) 
Wilkes  Barre,  Vale  of  Wyoming  (W.  Ridgway) 


286 


DON  QUIXOTE'S  ATTACK  ON  THE  WINDMILLS 

(Clews) 


DR 


SYNTAX  STARTING  OUT 
(dews) 


THE  ESCAPE  OF  THE  MOUSE 
(Clews) 


CHAPTER  C 

THE  WILLOW  PATTERN  AND  OTHER  IMPORTANT  BLUE-CHINA  SERIES 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  WILLOW  PATTERN 

THE  Willow  Pattern  has  been  perhaps  more  popular  and 
more  universally  familiar  ever  since  the  first  use  of  the 
color  blue  in  English  potteries  than  any  other  design  put 
upon  tableware,  but  in  spite  of  this  fact  a  surprising  amount  of 
ignorance  or  of  half-knowledge  concerning  it  still  persists.  The 
Chinese  story  which  inspired  the  English  potter-apprentice 
Thomas  Minton,  about  the  year  1780,  to  compose  and  engrave  the 
design  to  illustrate  it  may  best  be  given  in  the  form  of  one  of  the 
many  delightful  bits  of  verse  which  formerly  were  taught  to  chil- 
dren along  with  their  nursery  rhymes : 

"  So  she  tells  me  a  legend  centuries  old 
Of  a  Mandarin  rich  in  lands  and  gold, 
Of  Koong-Shee  fair  and  Chang  the  good, 
Who  loved  each  other  as  lovers  should. 
How  they  hid  in  the  gardener's  hut  awhile. 
Then  fled  away  to  the  beautiful  isle. 
Though  a  cruel  father  pursued  them  there. 
And  would  have  killed  the  hopeless  pair. 
But  kindly  power,  by  pity  stirred, 
Changed  each  into  a  beautiful  bird. 

•  ••••■•••••• 

Here  is  the  orange  tree  where  they  talked. 
Here  they  are  running  away. 
And  over  all  at  the  top  you  see 
The  birds  making  love  alway." 

The  large  pagoda  at  the  right  of  the  design,  as  reproduced  from 
an  old  platter,  is  the  palace  of  the  wealthy  Mandarin,  while  upon 
the  terrace  stands  the  summer  house  where  Koong-Shee,  the 
lovely  daughter  of  the  Mandarin,  was  kept  a  prisoner  in  order 

287 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

that  she  might  be  concealed  from  Chang,  her  father's  secretary, 
who  loved  her  and  whom  she  wished  to  marry.  But,  as  the 
story  runs  in  "Old  China,"  Chang  was  poor  and  the  Mandarin 
had  selected  a  wealthy  suitor  for  his  daughter's  hand.  From 
her  chamber  in  the  prison  the  unhappy  maiden  watched  the  willow 
tree  blossom  while  yet  the  peach  tree  was  only  in  bud,  and  she 
wrote  verses  in  which  she  voiced  the  hope  that  before  the  peach 
blossoms  appeared,  she  might  be  free.  Chang,  however,  found 
means  to  communicate  with  Koong-Shee,  once  by  sending  a  note 
in  a  tiny  cocoanut  shell,  which  by  the  aid  of  a  small  sail  made  its 
way  to  the  captive  maiden.  Koong-Shee  replied  by  scratching 
on  an  ivory  tablet  the  challenge,  "Do  not  wise  husbandmen  gather 
the  fruits  they  fear  will  be  stolen?"  and,  putting  the  tablet  in 
the  boat,  she  sent  it  back  to  her  lover. 

Chang  received  the  message,  entered  the  Mandarin's  garden  in 
spite  of  the  barricades  which  had  been  erected  to  keep  him  away, 
and  eloped  with  Koong-Shee.  The  father  gave  chase,  and  there 
on  the  bridge  the  three  may  be  seen — Chang  carrying  a  box  of 
jewels,  Koong-Shee  with  a  distaff  in  her  hand,  and  the  angry 
Mandarin  with  a  whip.  The  lovers  escaped,  however,  entered  the 
little  boat,  and  sailed  away  to  Chang's  house  on  the  island,  where 
they  lived  happily  until  the  rejected  suitor  discovered  them  and 
burned  their  home.  Then,  from  out  the  ashes  of  Chang  and 
Koong-Shee,  who  perished  in  their  bamboo  grove,  there  arose  two 
spirits  in  the  form  of  white  doves — ^the  lovers,  who  forever  hover 
over  the  scenes  of  their  earthly  happiness. 

Nearly  all  of  the  Staffordshire  potters  at  one  time  or  another 
made  use  of  the  Willow  Pattern,  or  of  variants  of  it.  Some  of 
the  English  designs,  erroneously  called  Willow,  have  but  two  men 
on  the  bridge,  or  one  man,  or  they  have  no  boat  or  birds,  being  in 
reality  merely  arrangements  of  oriental  motifs — trees,  pagodas, 
fences,  bridges,  etc. — to  suit  the  fancy  of  individual  potters.  The 
borders,  too,  vary  with  the  pattern  in  the  center,  the  butterfly, 
Joo-e  dagger,  fish-roe,  fret,  etc.,  etc.,  with  their  own  adaptations, 
offering  a  separate  subject  for  speculation  and  identification. 
The  scope  of  this  volume,  however,  forbids  an  extended  review  of 

288 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

this  very  interesting  study  of  Oriental  influence  upon  the  early 
ceramic  art  of  Europe. 

DOCTOR  SYNTAX  DESIGNS 

A  very  interesting  series  of  dark  blue  prints  on  pottery  was 
published  by  James  Clews,  after  the  original  designs  of  the 
English  caricaturist  T.  Rowlandson.  Contrary  to  the  usual 
method  of  procedure,  rhymes  were  composed  to  fit  the  pictures, 
the  combined  product  becoming  very  popular  in  London.  Wil- 
liam Combe,  an  eccentric  author  who  was  at  the  time  an  inmate 
of  a  debtors'  prison,  pinned  the  cartoons  upon  the  wall  of  his 
cell  and  penned  the  verses  for  them.  Blue  pottery  manufacture 
being  at  this  time  at  its  height  in  Staffordshire,  the  well-known 
Doctor  Syntax  was  made  to  cater  to  the  sales  of  pictured  table- 
ware in  America.  The  story  goes  that  the  learned  Doctor,  a 
poorly  paid  curate  of  a  small  English  town,  sets  out  upon  his 
gray  mare  Grizzle  on  a  "Tour  in  Search  of  the  Picturesque." 
In  his  farewell  to  his  wife  Dolly,  he  explains  his  purpose : 

"  You  charm  my  heart ;  you  quite  delight  it ; 
I'll  make  a  tour  —  and  then  I'll  write  it. 
You  well  know  what  my  pen  can  do, 
And  I'll  employ  my  pencil  too; 
I'll  ride  and  write,  and  sketch  and  print, 
And  thus  create  a  real  mint; 
I'll  prose  it  here,  I'll  verse  it  there. 
And  picturesque  it  everywhere." 

Then,  as  the  print  here  presented  pictures : 

"At  length  the  ling'ring  moment  came 
That  gave  the  dawn  of  wealth  and  fame. 
Incurious  Ralph,  exact  at  four, 
Led  Grizzle,  saddled,  to  the  door, 
And  soon,  with  more  than  common  state. 
The  Doctor  stood  before  the  gjate. 
Behind  him  was  his  faithful  wife: 
'  One  more  embrace,  my  dearest  life ; ' 
Then  his  gray  palfrey  he  bestrode. 
And  gave  a  nod  and  off  he  rode. 
289 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

'  Good  luck !    Good  luck  I '  she  loudly  cried, 
•Vale!    O  Vale!'  he  replied." 

According  to  the  illustrated  rhymes,  a  long  series  of  adventures 
await  the  traveler — he  is  attacked  by  ruffians  and  tied  to  a  tree ; 
he  is  rescued  by  two  women  who  appear  on  "trotting  palfreys" ; 
he  loses  Grizzle,  finding  him  at  last  with  cropped  ears  and  tail,  as 
he  thereafter  appears  in  the  illustrations ;  he  visits  Oxford,  loses 
his  money  at  races,  etc.,  etc.  Finally,  he  reaches  London  and 
arranges  with  a  bookseller  for  the  publishing  of  his  Tour.  Then, 
having  created  his  "mint,"  he  returns  to  Dolly,  who,  learning  of 
his  success : 

"  .  .  .  .  started  up  in  joy's  alarms 
And  clasped  the  Doctor  in  her  arms." 

After  several  years  of  happiness,  Dolly  dies.  Doctor  Syntax 
then  goes  upon  a  "Tour  in  Search  of  Consolation,"  accompanied 
by  his  valet  Pat.  So  successful  was  this  supplementary  series 
that  it  was  quickly  followed  by  a  third  "  Tour  in  Search  of  a 
Wife,"  wherein  after  many  experiences  the  sorrowing  Doctor  se- 
cures a  mate  the  equal  of  his  lamented  Dolly.  His  end  is  an  anti- 
climax— he  tumbles  into  a  pond,  takes  a  cold,  and  dies.  A  stone 
is  raised  to  his  memory  ... 

"And,  as  the  sculpture  meets  the  eye^ 
*  Alas,  poor  Syntax ! '  with  a  sigh, 

Is  read  by  every  passer  by; 

And  wakes  the  pensive  thought,  sincere, 

Forever  sad !  .  .  .  forever  dear ! " 

At  least  30  of  these  prints  have  been  found  upon  pieces  of  table- 
ware, the  ceramic  specimens  at  the  present  day  almost  equaling 
in  value  the  wonderful  old  editions  of  the  poem  illustrated  with 
the  colored  engravings. 

DON  QUIXOTE  DESIGNS 

A  set  of  at  least  21  excellent  blue-china  prints  have  been  found 
in  this  country,  reproduced  from  the  engravings  of  the  English 

290 


SUPPLEMENTARY  CHAPTERS 

artist  Robert  Smirke,  illustrating  the  adventures  of  Don  Quixote 
de  la  Mancha.  These  also  come  from  the  Clews  pottery  works, 
and  are  framed  in  a  handsome  deep  border  composed  of  a  wide- 
spreading  six-scalloped  star  within  the  rounded  points  of  which 
flowers  and  birds  appear. 

Transplanted  from  the  barren,  sun-scorched  hills  and  plains  of 
their  native  southland,  and  set  in  fresh  English  landscapes,  amid 
English  flowers  and  trees  and  English  castles,  beneath  over- 
clouded English  skies,  may  be  found  our  familiar  Spanish 
friends — the  Knight  of  the  Rueful  Countenance,  the  Peasant 
Maid,  Sancho  Panza  and  Teresa  his  spouse,  Rozinante  (whose 
sides  "stuck  out  like  the  comers  of  a  Spanish  real")  and  Dapple, 
the  Priest,  the  Barber,  the  Shepherd  boy,  the  Duke  and  Duch- 
ess, and  the  alluring  Shepherdesses  of  the  Wood.  The  "en- 
chanted bark"  here  floats  upon  a  shaded  English  stream ;  the  wild 
boar  roams  a  British  forest;  and  the  famous  windmills  sweep 
their  arms  through  English  skies. 

Like  Doctor  Syntax,  Don  Quixote  adventures  three  times  into 
the  world  of  experience,  but,  in  place  of  seeking  his  own  personal 
gain,  the  dear  old  Spanish  knight  has  won  his  way  into  the  hearts 
of  succeeding  generations  through  his  generous  efforts  to  teach 
the  ridiculousness  of  sham  and  the  worth  of  honesty.  The  most 
widely  known  incident  in  his  travels  through  an  unsympathetic 
world  is  that  which  is  pictured  in  the  accompanying  illustration — 
"The  Attack  Upon  the  Windmills."  Here  may  be  seen  Don 
Quixote  and  his  steed  Rozinante  prone  upon  the  ground,  decidedly 
worsted  in  their  encounter  with  the  supposed  giants  of  the  plain. 
Coming  to  their  rescue  is  Sancho  Panza,  his  squire,  who  accom- 
panies his  knight  and  shares  many  of  his  experiences.  Sancho's 
mount  is  a  beloved  ass  named  Dapple,  who  appears  in  a  number  of 
the  pictures.  But  the  knight's  chosen  lady,  the  peerless  Dulcinea 
del  Toboso,  for  whose  favor  all  is  attempted,  remains  throughout 
the  series  of  illustrations,  as  throughout  Cervantes'  fascinating 
pages,  a  creature  of  the  imagination  only,  a  luring  phantom  to  her 
deluded  lover. 

291 


THE  BLUE-CHINA  BOOK 

THE  WILKIE  SERIES 

The  art  of  the  painter  as  well  as  that  of  the  caricaturist  and  of 
the  illustrator  contributed  to  the  decoration  of  early  Staffordshire 
pottery,  the  work  of  no  less  an  artist  than  Sir  David  Wilkie  being 
put  to  that  humble  use,  and  thereby  introduced  into  American 
homes.  Seven  of  Wilkie's  best  known  canvases  were  reproduced 
in  the  pot-works  of  the  enterprising  James  Clews,  all  in  rich 
deep  blue  prints  of  excellent  workmanship.  The  subjects  chosen 
by  the  potters  are  the  lowly  scenes  of  country  life  which  the  "raw, 
tall,  pale,  queer  Scotchman"  originally  loved  to  observe,  and 
which  he  depicted  in  the  precise  and  sober  manner  of  Teniers 
and  of  Rembrandt,  the  two  artists  whom  he  at  first  followed. 
They  exhibit  the  homely  pastimes  and  customs  of  the  friends  and 
neighbors  with  whom  Wilkie  passed  his  early  years,  and  in  them 
one  may  learn  not  a  little  of  the  popular  EngHsh  tastes  of  that 
day.  Later  on,  after  he  had  made  London  his  home,  and  after 
his  genius,  like  Goethe's,  had  ripened  under  the  influence  of  the 
life  and  art  of  Italy  and  Spain,  the  subjects  of  his  brush  became 
broader  in  scope,  and  his  manner  of  expression  richer  and  more 
free. 

The  painting  which  is  here  presented  is  entitled,  "The  Escape 
of  the  Mouse."  In  it  may  be  seen  an  excited  family  group  of 
humble  station  in  life,  in  pursuit  of  the  little  intruder  who  has 
taken  refuge  under  the  chair  of  the  young  woman  at  the  spinning 
wheel.  She  has  turned  to  watch  the  dog  who  heads  the  chase. 
One  brother  pokes  under  the  chair  with  a  broom,  while  another 
stands  laughing  at  the  spectacle.  The  mother  is  seen  looking 
in  at  the  partly  opened  door.  "The  Escape  of  the  Mouse"  was 
the  artist's  diploma  picture  upon  his  entrance  into  the  Royal 
Academy  in  the  year  1811,  and  upon  the  walls  of  that  Institution 
it  may  still  be  seen. 


292 


INDEX 


Abraham,  Plains,  of,  8. 

"Abundance,"  91. 

Adair,  189. 

Adams,  Abigail,  98,  251. 

Adams,  John,  President,  98. 

china  of,  250,  251. 

offered  design  for  seal,  151. 

portrait  on  pottery,  133,  190. 

visited  by  Lafayette,  198. 
Adams,    John    Quincy,    President, 
china  of,  255. 

Samuel,  31. 

"Proscribed  Patriot,"  131. 

William,  potter,  107,  269. 
Adirondacks,  14. 
Adriatic,  214. 
Africa,  37,  267. 

pirates  of,  174. 
Age  of  Steam,  180,  225,  241. 
Albany,  12,  50,  202,  228,  234,  239,  240. 

Dutch  Church  in,  13. 

Entrance  of  Erie  Canal  at,  221. 
Alden,  John,  114. 
Alexander  of  Macedon,  221. 
Alexandria,  174,  175. 
Algiers,  174,  175. 

Alleghany,  "Endless  Mountains,"  6. 
Allegheny,  Penitentiary  at,  15,  17. 

River,  15,  231. 
Allen,  Rev.  Thomas,  9. 
Almshouse,  Baltimore,  90,  205. 

Boston,  37. 

New  York,  57,  61,  196,  222. 
Amazon,  157. 
America,  early  emblems  of,  146. 

early   immigration   to,   4-6,    107- 
123. 

English  ideas  of  early,  4,  108,  117. 

"Map"  design  of,  7,  96. 


America — continued. 

old  china  views  of,  271-286. 

physical    aspect    of,    travel    in, 
early,  3-21. 
"America"  design,  152. 
America,  South,  112. 
"American  Marine,"  270. 
American  Museum,  New  York,  59, 

61. 
Amory  House,  Boston,  27,  28. 
Andre,  Major,  142,  200. 
Apennines,  6. 

"Apotheosis,"  design,  128,  132. 
Ararat,  "unbuilt  city  of,"  215. 
Architecture,  church,  colonial   (see 
Classic  Revival). 

Egyptian,  92. 

Greek,  58,  83. 
Arms,  of  States,  146,  197,  153-157. 

Connecticut,  154. 

Delaware,  157. 

Georgia,  154. 

Maryland,  154. 

Massachusetts.   156. 

New  Hampshire,  153. 

New  Jersey,  156, 

New  York,  156. 

North  Carolina,  155. 

Pennsylvania,  155. 

Rhode  Island,  153. 

South  Carolina,  155. 

Virginia,  157. 
Arms  of  George  Washington,  128, 

149- 
Arnold,  Benedict,  139,  142,  200. 
Arthur,  President,  china  of,  263. 
Ashworth,  G.  L.  &  Bro.,  potters,  270. 
Asia,  37,  112. 
Assemblies,  Philadelphia,  82. 


293 


INDEX 


Astor,  Hotel,  53. 
John  Jacob,  56. 
Asylum,  Deaf  and  Dumb,  Hartford, 

199. 
Deaf    and    Dumb,    Philadelphia, 

Athenaeum,  Boston,  37. 

Austria,  emblems  of,  146,  192,  206. 

Azores,  The,  182. 

Bainbridge,  Commodore,  in  Algiers 
and  Tripoli,  174,  176,  178. 
in   battle    of    Constitution    and 
Java,  183. 
portrait  pitcher  of,  189. 
with  Lafayette  in  Boston,  198. 
Baltimore,  16,  88,  89,  90,  98,  99,  204, 
205,  234,  249. 
Almshouse,  90,  205. 
&  Ohio  R.  R.,  93,  237,  238. 
Battle  Monument,  91,  205. 
Court  House,  90. 
Exchange,  90,  205. 
Harbor  views  of,  88. 
History  of,  88-93. 
Hospital,  92,  205. 
University  of   Maryland,  90,  92, 
93,  205. 
Baltimore,  Lord,  89,  154. 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R.,  93,  237,  238. 
Barbadoes,  40. 
Barbary,  States,  174. 

pirates,  175. 
Barber,  Dr.  Edwin  Atlee,  267,  268, 

269,  270,  271. 
Barcelona,  in. 
Barnum,  P.  T.,  49,  59. 
Baron  de  Kalb,  209. 
Battery,  the,  New  York,  43,  46,  49, 

194,  197- 
Flagstaff  Pavilion  on  the,  47. 
scene   of   Erie   Canal   festivities, 

222. 
Walk,  47,  48. 
Beacon  Hill,  Boston,  24,  30. 
Beacon  Mall,  Boston,  27,  28. 
Beacon  Street,  Boston,  27,  30. 
Beatry,  189. 


"Beauties  of   America,"   series  of 

decorations,  61,  268. 
Belgium,  191. 
Bellevue,  N.  Y.,  59. 

Hospital,  61. 
Belt  of  Peace,  120,  121. 
Bemis  Heights,  141. 
Bennington,   Vermont,   pottery   of, 

170. 
Bergen,  N.  J.,  203. 
Berkshire,  Minutemen,  9. 

Hotel,  10. 
Bermuda,  182. 
Blackwell's  Island,  61. 
Blackstone,  William,  23. 

Point,  23,  24. 
Blakey,  189. 

Blue,  color  on  china  (see  Introduc- 
tion), 46,  267-271,  287,  289. 

love  of  Franklin  for,  158,  159. 

love  of  Washington  for,  136,  249. 
Bonaparte,  Jerome,  251. 
Bonheur,  Rosa,  262. 
Booth,  Edwin,  62. 

Borders   on   china    (see   Introduc- 
tion), 4,  II,  46,  61,  91,  97,  268. 

Baltimore  views,  91. 

Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R.,  237. 

Brandywine  River,  140. 

"  Catskill  Moss,"  271. 

chickweed  and  moss,  270. 

Don  Quixote,  291. 

eagle  designs,  146,  153. 

Erie  Canal,  218. 

Landing  of  Columbus,  ic8. 

Landing  of  Lafayette,  194. 

Landing  of  Pilgrims,  115. 

Merchants'  Exchange,  Baltimore, ' 
69. 

Penn's  Treaty,  117. 

"Picturesque  Views,"  267-271. 

Utica  Inscription,  220. 

Willow,  288. 
Boston,  9,  24,  50,  184,  197,  199,  234. 

history  of,  22-42. 

old  china  views  of,  23-42. 

Almshouse,  37. 

Athenaeum,  37. 


294 


INDEX 


Boston — continued. 

Bunker  Hill  Monument,  139. 

Common,  24-29. 

Court  House,  32. 

Fusileers,  144. 

General  Hospital,  35. 

Hancock  House,  28. 

Harbor,  23. 

Harvard  College,  38-42. 

Insane  Hospital,  35. 

Lawrence  Mansion,  32. 

Mitchell  &  Freeman's  China  and 
Glass  Warehouse,  36. 

Nahant,  38. 

Octagon  Church,  33,  34. 

State  House,  27,  29,  198. 

St.  Paul's,  33. 
"Boston  Mails,"  270. 
Boston  Port  Bill.  165. 
Boston  Post  Road,  55,  58,  62,  63. 
Bowling  Green,  N.  Y.,  43,  49,  50,  57. 
Boxer,  frigate,  186.  187. 
Brandywine,  Battle  of  the,  137,  140, 
141,  197,  199,  202. 

47th  anniversary  of,  196. 

Lafayette  visits  scene  of,  204. 

relics  of,  199. 
Brandyzvine,  frigate,  21 1. 
Breed's  Hill,  137. 
Brewster,  Elder,  114. 
Brick  Church,  N.  Y.,  62. 
Bridewell,  Boston,  27. 

New  York,  57. 
Broadway,  New  York,  43,  50,  Sif  S3. 
55,  71. 

hogs  and  chimney  sweeps  on,  50. 

pumps  on,  54, 
Brooklyn   Heights,   view    of    New 
York  from,  44,  45. 

Battle  of,  137,  140. 
Brown,  189,  190. 
Brunelleschi,  102. 

Buchanan,  President,  china  of,  260. 
Buffalo,   canal   celebration   at,   213, 
214,  21S,  216,  223. 

Lafayette  at,  210. 

Railroad,  241. 

view  of  harbor  of,  269. 


Bulfinch,  Charles,  30,  32,  34,  35. 
Bunker  Hill,  Battle  of,  26,  137,  138, 
198,  199- 
Soth  anniversary  of,  210. 
Monument,  139. 
Bureau  of  Buildings  and  Grounds, 

Washington,  D.  C,  247. 
Burgoyne,  Gen.,  surrender  at  Sara- 
toga, 141. 
influence  of  surrender  in  France, 
167. 

Cadmus,  frigate,  193,  194,  195. 
Caesar's  Commentaries,  67. 
California,  annexation  of,  259. 

gold  in,  17. 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  39. 
Camden,  S.  C,  209. 
Canada,  4,  7,  139,  184,  185. 

emblems  of,  147. 
Canton  china,  of  George  Washing- 
ton, 249. 
Cape  Cod,  113. 
Capitol,  at  Albany,  50,  202. 

at  Washington,  96-98, 100, 102, 205. 
Caravels,  109,  no,  112. 
Cards,  Colonial  playing,  and  visit- 
ing, 82. 
Carolina,  North,  16,  40. 

South,  16,  40. 
Carpenters'  Hall,  Philadelphia,  77. 
Carrol,  Henry,  53. 
Carver,  John,  114,  115. 
Castle  Garden,  canal  festivities  in, 
222. 
fete  for  Lafayette  in,  197. 

history  of,  47,  48. 

landing  of  Lafayette  at,  194. 
"Catskill  Moss,"  border,  271. 
"C.  C,"  potter,  271. 
Ceres,  129,  155,  156. 
Champlain,  Battle  of  Lake,  188,  190W 
Champlain,  founder  of  Quebec,  8. 
Chancellor    Livingston,    steamboat, 

194,  221,  229. 
Chancellor  Livingston,  201,  227. 
Chang,  287,  28a 
Charles  H,  72. 


295 


INDEX 


Charleston,  S.  C,  Exchange,  16,  273. 
Charleston  &  Hamburg  R.  R.,  239. 
Charlestown,  burning  of,  139. 

navy  yard,  184,  198. 
Cheese,  mammoth,  255. 
Chelsea,  Boston  from,  23. 
Chesapeake  Bay,  179. 
Chesapeake,  frigate,  185. 
Chief  Justice  Marshall,  steamboat, 

230,  231. 
China,  color  blue,  manufacture  and 
sale  of,  prices,  etc.   (see  In- 
troduction). 
Franklin's,  75,  169. 
in  Metropolitan  Museum,  N.  Y., 

127. 
in  National  Museum,  Washington, 

D.  C,  136. 
presidential,  in  White  House,  245- 

266. 
Washington's  at  Mt.  Vernon,  249. 
"China  Collecting  in  America,"  134. 
China,  44,  127,  170. 
Church  Green,  34. 
Churches,  architecture  of  (see  Clas- 
sic    Revival     in     American 
Architecture), 
views  of,  Albany,  13. 
Boston,  22,  34,   198. 
New  York,  54-57. 
Philadelphia,  83. 
Cicero,  40. 
Cincinnati,   Order  of  the,  ensignia 

on  china,  126,  136,  250. 
City  Hall,  N.  Y.,  46,  52,  58,  59,  60, 

69,  loi,  195,  222. 
City  Hall  Park,  57,  58. 
City  Hotel,  N.  Y.,  53,  54,  196. 
Classic  Revival  in  American  Archi- 
tecture, 13,  ZZ,  34.  226, 
in  Boston,  27,  30,  2:i,  34,  35- 
in  New  York,  52,  55,  56,  58,  60. 
in  Philadelphia,  80,  83,  85. 
in  Washington,  loi,  102. 
Qay,  Henry,  portrait  of,  135. 
speech  in  honor  of  Lafayette,  206, 

212. 
"Star  of  the  West,"  270. 


296 


Clermont,  home  of  Chancellor  Liv- 
ingston, 201. 
Clermont,  the,  steamship,  226,  227, 
Cleveland,  Grover,  President,  china 

of,  264. 
Clews,  James,  potter,  11,  63. 
designs  of,  268. 
Don  Quixote  designs,  291. 
Dr.  Syntax  designs,  289. 
Wilkie  designs,  292. 
Climate,  of  America,  3. 

of  Philadelphia,  73. 
Clinton,  Castle,  48. 
Clinton,  DeWitt,  Gov.,  67,  125,  134, 
202,  213,  219. 
"Eulogy",  223. 
portrait  of,  218. 
Clinton,  Fort,  47,  48. 
Clinton,  George,  56. 
"Clinton,  DeWitt,"  locomotive,  239. 
Coach,    stage,    early    railway    (see 

Stage  Coach),  237-239. 
Coenties  Slip,  N.  Y.,  69. 
Coffee  House  Slip,  N.  Y.,  69. 
Colonial,  styles  in  architecture  (sec 
Classic  Revival), 
dress  (see  Styles  of  Dress), 
officers,  Washington's  farewell  to 

the,  52,  53- 
pattern  on  Roosevelt  china,  266. 
Colonies,  American,  4-7,  107-123. 
Colors,  on  American  flag,  147. 
on  pottery  (see  Introduction),  46, 
117,  267-271. 
Columbia  College,  history  of,  63-68. 
old  china  views  of,  46,  63-68. 
references  to,  196,  222, 
Columbus,  Christopher,  discovery  of 
America,  3,  107-113. 
landing  views  on  china,  110-112, 

269. 
references  to,  131,  146,  159. 
Columbus,  Ohio,  16. 
Combe,  William,  289. 
Common,  Boston  (see  Boston),  24- 
29,  71,  198, 199, 2ia 
Pittsfield,  9. 
Yorktown,  208. 


INDEX 


Commons,    the    New    York    (The     Daughters  of  the  American  Revolu- 


Fields),  history  and  views  of, 
43,  57,  58,  59,  62. 
Compact,  the  Mayflower,  114. 
Concord,  Mass.,  26. 
Congress,  Act  of,  150. 

Continental,  148. 

Hall  of,  Washington,  D.  C,  98. 

House    of    Representatives,    205, 
206. 

Library  of,  100. 

Second  Continental,  166. 

Sixteenth,  loi. 
Connecticut,  Arms  of,  154. 

Historical  Society  of,  132. 

State  House  of,  lo. 
Constantinople,  174. 
Constitution,    The,    of   the   United 

States,  201. 
Constitution,  frigate,  at  Tripoli,  175, 
178. 

and  Guerriere,  181. 

and  Java,  183. 

in  Boston  dock,  184,  190. 

under  Captain  Hull,  179,  180. 
Coolidge,  Joseph,  27. 
Cooper,  Peter,  93,  238. 
Copenhagen,  156. 
Copper  luster  pitcher,  143,  208. 
Comwallis,    Lord,    at  the    Brandy- 
wine,  141. 

house  of  in  Yorktown,  208. 

surrender  of,  83,  142,  143,  144. 
Court  House,  Baltimore,  90. 

Boston,  32. 
Cows,  in  New  York,  43,  51,  52,  71, 

73- 
on  Boston  Common,  24-26,  31. 
Croton  Water,  50,  54. 
Custard  cups,  248,  2(51. 
Custis,  John  Parke,  65. 


Dagoty,  254. 

Dam  and  Waterworks,  Philadelphia 
(see  Fairmount),  85,  204,  230. 
Dante,  112, 
Dapple,  291. 


tion,  10. 
Davenport  &  Co.,  potters,  269. 
Davis,  Theodore,  262. 
Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum,  Hartford, 

199. 
Debtors'  Prison,  N.  Y.,  57,  58. 
Decatur,  Commodore,  53,  174,  189. 
at  Tripoli,  176,  177. 
battle  between   United  States  & 
Macedonian,  182,  183. 
Declaration   of   Independence,   114, 
166. 
forty-ninth  anniversary  of,  2ii. 
on  blue  china,  9,  125. 
read  in  New  York,  58. 
signed  in  Philadelphia,  166. 
Delaware,  River,  6,  72,  73,  84,  117, 
226. 
Valley  of  the,  72. 
Delaware  &  Hudson  River  R.  R., 

236. 
Delia  Robbia  (see  Introduction). 
Denmark,  156. 

Designs,  in  blue  on  pottery,  271-278. 
in  other  colors  on  pottery,  278- 
286. 
D'Estaing,  Admiral,  31. 
Detroit,  view  of  harbor  of,  16,  231. 
De  Tuyll,   Baron,   silver  in   White 

House,  252. 
Diana,  Temple  of,  58. 
Dickens,    Charles,    in    New    York, 

54- 

in  Washington,  loi. 
Dickins,  Mrs.  F.  W.,  collection  of 

presidential  china,  261. 
Divine  Comedy,  112. 
Doge  of  Venice,  214. 
Donelson,  Mrs.  Emily,  256. 
Don   Quixote,   designs   on  pottery, 
268. 

story  of,  290,  291. 
Dorchester,  Boston  from,  23. 
Dutch,  Church  in  Albany,  13,  14. 

emblems,  147,  149. 

settlers  in  Manhattan,  43-47. 

settlers  in  Philadelphia,  72. 


297 


INDEX 


Eagle,  in  borders  and  designs  on  pot- 
tery, 115,  129,  146,  215,  268. 
in  Great  Seal  of  the  United  States, 

152. 
plumage    on    Capitol    figure    at 
Washington,  102. 
Eagle,  boat,  38. 
Eagle  Tavern,  Buffalo,  216. 
Earle,  Mrs.  Alice  Morse,  134,  252. 
East  Room  of  White  House,  in  John 
Adams'  administration,  250. 
in  Madison  administration,  254. 
in  Jackson  administration,  255. 
in  Taylor  administration,  259. 
East  River,  69. 
Eaton,  "Peggy,"  255. 
Edwards,  J.  &  T.,  potters,  270. 
Elijah,  20. 
Ellsler,  Fanny,  62. 
Elm,  "Liberty"  of  Boston,  26. 
Penn's  Treaty,  80,  117,  119,  122, 

123. 
Pennsylvania  Hospital,  123. 
Pittsfield,  9. 

Washington,  Washington,  D,  C, 
loi. 
Emblems,    Arms    of    the   Thirteen 
States,  153-157- 
British,  96. 

earliest  of  America,  146-148. 
first  flag,  149-151. 
of  the  Republic  and  the  States, 

146-157. 
on  Staffordshire  pottery,  149,  268. 
present  flag,  151, 
Seal  of  the  United  States,  151- 

153- 
Spanish,  no. 
"Empire"   style  of  house   furnish- 
ings, 254. 
"Endless  Mountains,"  6,  15. 
England,  emblems  of,  146. 
potteries  of  (see  Introduction), 
potters  of,  267-271. 
references  to,  63,  77,  115,  117,  142, 
155,  161,  225,  236,  291. 
Enterprise  and  Boxer,  186. 
Ephesus,  58. 


298 


"E  Pluribus  Unum,"  102,  151,  153, 

189. 
Erie  Canal,  13,  54,  125,  134,  196,  210. 
celebration  of  opening  of,  at  Al- 
bany, 221. 
at  Buffalo,  214.  215,  269. 
at  Little  Falls,  220. 
at  Lockport,  216, 
at  New  York,  222. 
at  Rochester,  217. 
at  Rome,  219. 
at  Syracuse,  219. 
at  Utica,  219. 
story  of  opening  of,  213-224. 
Erie,  Lake,  Battle  of,  185,  186. 
"Esplanade,"  N.  Y.,  47. 
"Eulogy"  design,  223. 
Evans,  Oliver,  226. 
Exchange,  Baltimore,  go,  205. 

Charleston,  16,  273. 
Executive  Mansion,  New  York,  50, 
246,  249. 
Philadelphia,  75,  246. 
Washington,  94,  95-98,  250-266. 

Fairmount   Park,   Philadelphia,  76, 

84. 
Fairmount  Dam  and  Waterworks, 

84-86,  204,  230. 
Fame,  figure  of,  7,  130. 
Father  Abraham,  162. 
Fauna,  on  President  Hayes  china, 

262. 
Ferdinand,  King,  109,  in. 
"Fields,  The"   (see  Commons). 
Fillmore,  Millard,  President,  china 

of,  260. 
Finger  and  mouth  bowl,  259. 
Fire  in  New  York,  69,  70. 
Fitch,  John,  226. 
Flag,  adopted  by  Congress,  149. 

early  American,  147. 

made  in  Philadelphia,  15a 

on  vessels,  172. 

origin  of,  14^151. 

pine-tree,  8,  130,  147. 

with  15  stars,  136,  15a 

with  48  stars,  151. 


INDEX 


Flagstaff  Pavilion,  47. 
Flaubert,  262. 

Flora,   on    President  Grant   china, 
261. 
on  President  Hayes  china,  262. 
on  President  Benjamin  Harrison 
china,  264. 
Florence,  102,  109. 
Florida,  4,  5,  17. 

Ford,  Thomas  &  Co.,  potters,  27a 
Forgeries  of  blue  china,  271. 
Forrest,  Edwin,  62. 
Fort,  Amsterdam,  46. 
Clinton,  47,  48. 
Gansevoort,  46. 
Lafayette,   194. 
McHenry,  204. 
Niagara,  18. 
Foster,  James  H.,  35. 
Fountain  of  Eternal  Youth,  5. 
France,  6,  16,  56,  133,  146,  147,  158, 
173,  20s,  247,  254. 
Franklin  in,  74,  167-169. 
on  the  side  of  the  American  Col- 
onies, 141. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  56,  78,  84,  131, 
151.  159-161, 165,  167,  168,  169, 
170,  179,  234. 
in  Philadelphia,  71,  74,  81,  159. 
founder  of  Philadelphia  Library, 
77,  160. 
Pennsylvania  Hospital,  79,  160. 
University     of      Pennsylvania, 
160. 
on  old  china,  7,  130,  132,  133,  141, 

167,  169,  170,  204. 
"Morals,"  "Proverbs"  and  "Max- 
ims," I5&-I7I. 
Franklin,  Mrs.  Benjamin,  74. 
Fraunce's  Tavern,  N.  Y,,  52. 
"Freedom,"  statue  of,  loa. 
Frigates  (see  War  of  1812). 
"Frog-Pond,"  24. 
Fruit-compote,  248,  260,  261. 
Fulton,  Robert,  201. 

trial  of  the  Clermont,  226,  227. 
Fulton,  steamboat,  194,  228,  229. 
Fusileers,  The  Boston,  144. 


Gage,  General,  138. 

Gallaudet,  Thomas  H.,  199. 

Gansevoort,  Fort,  46. 

Garden  of  Eden,  112. 

Garfield,  President  James  A^  china 

of,  268. 
Gates,  Gen'l,  142. 
Genesee,  country  of,  6. 
George  H,  64,  65,  78. 

HI,  statue  of,  49. 
Georgia,  Arms  of,  154. 

early  conditions  of,  16. 
Germany,  146. 

Ghent,  Treaty  of,  33,  191,  254. 
Gilpin's  Mills,  141,  204. 
Gilpin,  Gideon,  204. 
Girard,  Stephen,  8a 
Gloucester,  Mass.,  139. 
Goat  Island,  19,  20,  21. 
Goddard,  Nathaniel,  35. 
Godwin,  Thomas,  potter,  269. 
Goethe,  292. 

Gold  in  America,  3,  4,  17,  iii,  112. 
Gore,  Gov.  Christopher,  28. 
Governor's  Rooms,  N.  Y.,  6a 
Governor's  Island,  47. 
Governor's  House,  N.  Y.,  50. 
Grand  Opera,  first  in  America,  48. 
Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  Pres.,  china  of, 
261,  262. 

Nellie,  261. 
Great  Lakes,  6,  7,  18,  19,  184. 
Green,  Thomas,  potter,  117,  270. 
Greek,  in  Columbia,  67. 

in  Harvard,  40. 
Griscom,  Dr.,  59. 
Grizzle,  289. 

}puerr%dre  and  Constitution,  181. 
Guerriire  bound  for  Russia,  188. 

Haiti,  III. 

Half  Moon,  44, 

Hall  of  Records,  N.  Y.,  58. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  69,  197,  aoi. 

Hancock,  Dorothy,  31. 

Gov,  John,  31,  166. 

"Proscribed  Patriot,"  31,  131. 
Hancock  Mansion,  28. 


299 


INDEX 


Harding  Tavern,  87. 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  Pres.,  china  of, 
264. 

Mrs.,  24s,  246,  253. 
Harrison,  William  H.,  Pres.,  china 
of,  258. 

Hero  of  the  Thames,  181 3,  270. 

Log  cabin  campaign  design,  135, 
258. 
Hartford,  Conn.,  154,  199. 
Harvard  College,  10,  63,  67,  71,  198. 

early  history  and  views  of,  38-42. 

Halls  of,  42. 
Harvard,  John,  39. 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  260. 
Hayes,    Rutherford    B.,    Mrs.,   245, 
246. 

President,  china  of,  262. 
Heath,  Joseph,  potter,  270. 
Hell  Gate,  229, 
Hennepin,  Father,  19,  20. 
Hercules,  151,  215. 
"Hero  of  New  Orleans,"  256. 
Highlands,   The,   200. 
Hingham,  Mass.,  13. 
"Historical  Pitcher  of  the  War  of 

1812,"  190. 
Hoban,  James,  247. 
Hoboken,  Stevens  mansion  at,  226. 
Holland,  settlers  from  in  Albany,  13. 

in  Manhattan,  5. 
Holland  Land  Company,  6. 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  "path,"  29. 
"Home,  Sweet  Home,"  62. 
Homer,  67,  213. 
Honesdale,  Pa.,  236. 
Horn  of  Plenty,  89. 
Horseshoe  Falls,  19,  20,  21. 
Hospital,  Baltimore,  90,  92. 

Bcllevue,  61,  196. 

Boston  General,  35,  198. 

Boston  Insane,  35. 

Pennsylvania,  y6,  79,  160,  204. 
Howe,  General,  at  the  Brandywine, 
141. 

in  Boston,  26. 

in  New  York,  140. 

in  Philadelphia,  83, 141. 


Hudson  River,  6,  10^  65,  14^,  156, 
199-202. 

canal  boats  on,  222. 

steam  travel  on,  225,  227. 

"Picturesque  Views"  of,  ii. 
"Hudson  River  Portfolio,"  ii. 
Hudson,  city  of,  202. 

Hendrick,   12,  44. 
Hull,  Comm.  Isaac,  53,  179,  180,  181, 

189,  190. 
Humboldt,  251. 

"Illustrious  Modems,"  169. 
Independence,  Declaration  of,  7,  49, 
77,  126,  144,  155.  156,  157,  168, 
179. 

40th  anniversary  of,  92. 

49th  anniversary  of,  211, 

reading  of  in  New  York,  58. 

signing  of,  166. 
Independence  Hall,  Phila.,  203. 
India,  109,  118,  267. 
Indiana,  11,  151. 

Indians,  American,  3,  4,  12,  51, 
63,  108,  no.  III,  114,  118, 
120,  121,  131,  156,  IS9,  209, 
215. 

in  Penn's  Treaty  scene,  118. 

Peace  Belt,  120,  121. 
Indian  Chief  Red  Jacket,  210. 
Indus,  The,  221. 
Intrepid,  The,  176. 
Ironsides,  Old,  184. 
Irving,  Washington,  54. 
Isabella,  Queen,  109,  in,  112. 
Italy,  6,  18,  45,  132,  267,  292. 
Izard,  189. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  President,  pitcher 
design,  135. 

china  of,  255^57. 

"Hero  of  New  Orleans,"  191. 
Jackson,  J.  &  J.,  potters,  269. 
Japan,  no,  170. 
Jardson,  189. 
lava,  frigate,  183. 
Jay,  John,  67,  2oi. 


300 


INDEX 


JeflFerson,  Joseph,  62. 
Thomas,  President,  95,  las,  134, 

151,  208,  218,  251. 
china  of,  251. 
Johnson,    Andrew,    President,   245, 
261. 
Dr.  Samuel,  64. 
Jones,  Capt.  of  the  WasP,  53.  182, 
189,  190. 
Capt.  Paul,  162. 
Jordon,  Richard,  home  of,  27a 
Joy,  Dr.  John,  28. 
Juniata,  The,  15. 
Jtmto  Club,  77,  i6a 


Kalb,  Baron  de,  209. 
Kean,  Edmund,  62. 
Kemble,  Fanny,  62. 
Kentucky,  5,  6,  16,  127,  150,  151. 
King  Charles   II,   72. 

Ferdinand,  109,  iii. 

George  II,  64,  65. 

George  III,  49. 

Louis  XVI,  141,  167,  168. 
King's  Chapel,  Boston,  33. 

College  (see  Columbia). 
Koong-Shee,  287,  288. 
Kublai  Khan,  109,  no,  in. 


"Lady  of  the  Lakes,"  222. 
Lafayette,  General,  Tour  in  Amer- 
ica, 1824-5,  192-212. 

at  Baltimore,  88,  91,  204- 

at  Boston,  28,  139,  198,  199,  210. 

at  the  Brandy  wine,  141. 

Hudson  River  sail,  14,  199-202. 

at  New  York,  48,  54,  60,  195,  196, 
197. 

at  Niagara  Falls,  18,  210. 

at  Philadelphia,  74,  86,  203,  avj. 

at  Pittsburgh,  15. 

at  Mt.  Vernon,  127,  206,  207. 

at  Washington,  loi,  102,  205-207. 

at  Yorktown,  143,  144,  207,  208. 

in  the  South  and  West,  208-210, 
431* 


china  souvenirs  of  Tour,  125,  169, 
190, 193. 194.  208,  211,  218, 267, 
268. 
Lafayette,  Fort,  194. 
"Lafayette  Fund,"  212. 
Lafayette,  George  Washington,  193, 

206. 
La  Grange,  197,  211,  267. 
Lake  Erie,  Battle  of,  185,  186,  241. 
Lake  George,  15. 
Land  Companies  in  America,  5. 
Landing  of  Columbus  (see  Colum- 
bus). 
Landing  of  Lafayette,  194,  268. 
Landing    of    Pilgrims    (see    "Pil- 
grims"). 
Landseer,  262. 
La  Salle,  19. 
Latin,  in  Columbia,  65,  66. 

in  Harvard,  40. 
Lawrence,  Captain,  185,  189. 
Lawrence,  frigate,  186. 
L'Enfant,  Major,  95,  96,  104,  126. 
Lewis,  189. 

Lexington,  Battle  of,  83,  166. 
Kentucky,  17. 
Mass.,  26,  199. 
"Liberty"  on  china,  7,  77,  126,  128, 
130,  144,  147,  148,  151,  15s,  156, 
157. 
"Liberie'  des  Mers."  168. 
Library,  Boston,  37,  198. 
Columbia,  65. 

Philadelphia,  76,  77,  78,  160,  204. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  President,  china 

of,  261,  266. 
Lind,  Jenny,  49, 
Little  Falls,  canal  at,  220. 
Liverpool,  pottery  of  (see  Introduc- 
tion), 26,  95,  144,  153,  165. 
"Map"  pitcher,  7,  8. 
naval  pitchers,  172-191. 
portrait  pitchers,  8,  124-134,  153, 
178,  252. 
Livingston,  Hon.  Robert  R.,  66. 
Lockport,  canal  at,  216. 
Locomotive,  early  models  of,  235, 
236,  227,  23I&. 


301 


INDEX 


Locomotive — continued. 

"Best  Friend  of  Charleston,"  239. 

"DeWitt  Clinton,"  239. 

"Puffing  Billy,"  235. 

"Stourbridge  Lion,"  236. 

"Tom  Thumb,"  238. 
Log  Cabin  design,  135,  268. 
Lombardy  poplars  at  Columbia,  68. 
London,  24,  95,  165. 
Longfellow,  references  to  poems  of, 

74,  89,  114,  187. 
Long  Island,  45,  65. 
"Lord  of  the  Seas,"  222. 
Lotteries,  61,  64. 
Louis  XVI,  141,  167. 
Louisiana,  6,  7,  16,  17,  151. 
Louisville,  Ky.,  16. 
Lowestoft,  so-called,  253. 
Luzerne,  14. 

Macdonough,  Commodore,  188. 
Macedonian,  frigate,  182,  189,  190. 
Madison,  "Dolly,"  252,  253. 

James,  President,  92,  95,  100,  134, 
178,  208,  252. 

china  of,  252,  253. 
Mall,  Beacon  Street,  Boston,  28. 

Long,  Boston,  25,  28. 

Washington,  96,  103,  104. 
Manhattan,  5,  45,  63,  71,  147. 

Fort,  46. 
Manitou,  12. 
"Map,"  design  of  America,  7, 130, 147. 

of  Washington,  D.  C,  96. 
Marco  Polo,  108,  no,  in,  118. 
Marie  Antoinette,  167. 
Marine  Hospital,  Louisville,  Ky.,  I7» 
Marks  on  Staffordshire  pottery,  267- 

271. 
Maryland,  40,  205,  211. 

Arms  of,  89,  154. 

University  of,  92,  93. 
Mason,  Rev.  Dr.,  56,  67. 
Masonic  Temple,  Baltimore,  90. 

Philadelphia,  76. 
Massachusetts,  9,  22,  23,  51,  115, 144, 
167. 

Arms  of,  156. 


Massachusetts  General  Hospital,  35, 
Mather,  Dr.  Cotton,  34. 
"Maxims,"  of  Franklin,  161-165. 
Mayer,  T.,  potter,  153,  268. 
Mayflower,  The,  113,  114,  115. 
McComb,  189. 
McKinley,  William,  President,  china 

of,  265. 
McLean,  John,  35. 
Mediterranean,  175. 
Meigh,  C,  potter,  269. 
Mellor,  Venables  &  Co.,  potters,  270. 
Mendenhall  Ferry,  87. 
Metropolitan  Museum,  New  York, 

127. 
Merchants'  Exchange,  Baltimore,  90^ 

205. 
New  York,  69. 
Mexican  War,  259. 
Mexico,  Gulf  of,  7. 
Michaux,  Andre,  68. 
Michigan,  16. 
Military     Academy      (see     West 

Point). 
Millir,  189. 
Minton,  pottery,  264. 

Thomas,  287. 
Mirror-knobs,  133, 
Mississippi  River,  6,  16,  17,  209,  231. 
Mitchell  &  Freeman's  China  &  Glass 

Warehouse,  36. 
Mohawk  River,  220. 
Mohawk  &  Hudson  River  R.  R.,  239. 
Monroe,    James,    President,    193, 

205,  246,  252. 
china  of,  254,  255, 
"Monroe  Doctrine"  introduced,  206. 
Montgomery,  General  Richard,  $6, 

139. 
Monticello,  208. 
Montmorenci,  Falls  of,  8. 
Montpelier,  208. 

Monument,  Battle,  at  Baltimore,  90, 
91,  92,  205. 
Bunker  Hill,  Boston,  139. 
Washington,  at  Baltimore,  91. 
Washington,  at  Washington,  D. 
C,  103,  125-129. 


302 


INDEX 


Moore,  Tom,  251. 

"Morals"  of  Franklin,  161-165. 

Morley,  Francis  &  Co.,  potters,  27a 

Momingside  Heights,  65,  68. 

Moses,  151. 

Ml  Vernon,  98,  104,  124,  125,  136, 

206,  207,  249,  2Sa 
Murray  St  Church,  N.  Y.,  56,  dy. 

Nahant,  views  of,  38. 
Napoleon,  143,  175. 
National   Museum  of   Smithsonian 
Institution,  136,  2y],  249,  250, 
261. 
"Nation's  Guest"  (see  Lafayette). 
Naval  pitchers,  172-191. 
Nelson,  Lord,  177,  184. 
"Neptune's  Return  to  Pan,"  215,  223. 
New  Amsterdam,  43,  49,  ^2. 
Newburgh,  11,  200,  231. 
New  Hampshire,  9. 

Arms  of,  153. 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  10,  199. 
New  Jersey,  15,  45,  65. 

Arms  of,  156. 
New  Orleans,  6,  16,  209. 

Battle  of,  191. 
"New  Style"  travel,  232. 
Newtown,  Mass.,  39. 
New  York,  city  of,  40,  43^70,  94, 
140,  158,  181,  246,  249. 

old  china  views  of,  44-69. 

Almshouse,  57,  61,  196,  222. 

American  Museum,  Scudders,  42, 
58,  59,  61,  62,  196,  222, 

Battery,  46,  49,  148,  194,  197,  222. 

Brooklyn  Heights,  44,  45,  137,  140. 

Castle  Garden,  47,  48,  194,  197,  222. 

City  Hall,  46,  52,  58,  59,  60,  69, 
loi,  195,  222. 

City  Hotel,  53,  54,  196. 

Columbia,  46,  63-68,  196,  22:?. 

Esplanade,  47. 

Flagstaff  Pavilion,  47. 

Fort  Clinton,  47,  48. 

Merchants'  Exchange,  Burning  of, 
69. 

Murray  St  Church,  56,  67. 


Park  Theater,  62,  196,  222. 

St  Patrick's,  57- 

St  Paul's  Chapel,  55,  62,  67,  196, 
222. 

Weehawk,  44,  45, 
New  York,  state  of,  6,  199,  202,  aio^ 
213,  222. 

arms  of,  56,  156. 
Niagara  Falls,  17-21,  38,  210,  223. 

in  Art,  19-21. 

in  Literature,  18. 
Niagara,  Fort,  18. 
Niagara,  frigate,  186. 
Noah's  Ark,  canal  boat,  215. 
North  Carolina,  16,  209. 

arms  of,  155. 
Nova  Scotia,  89. 

"Octagon  Church,"  Boston,  33. 
Octagon  House,  Washington,  D.  C, 

254- 
O'Hara,  Gen'l,  143. 
Ohio  River,  6, 16,  210,  232,  237. 

State  of,  151. 
"Old  China"  Magazine,  288. 
Old  Ironsides,  184. 
Olmutz,  196. 

Old  North  Church,  Boston,  33,  34. 
"Old  Ship  Meeting  House,"  13. 
"Old  Rough  and  Ready,"  259. 
Opera,  Grand  in  America,  4J8,  49. 
Old  South  Church,  Boston,  33,  34. 
"Old  Style"  travel  on  land,  232. 
Orange  Hotel,  Newburgh,  12. 
Orinoco  River,  113. 
Oxford,  290. 

Paine,  Tom,  251. 
Palos,  Spain,  109. 
Pantheon,  83. 
Paris,  68,  95,  211. 

Park  St.  Church,  Boston,  27,  32,  33. 
Park  Theater,  N.  Y.,  62,  196,  222. 
Park,  City  Hall,  N.  Y.,  57,  58,  63. 
Park  Place,  68. 
Park  Row,  62. 
Parrots,  in  America,  3,  4. 
in  border  device,  4,  11. 


303 


INDEX 


Passaic,  Falls  of,  15. 
Patapsco,  River,  89. 
Paulding,  John,  200. 
Peace,  Belt  of,  120,  121. 

Penn's  Treaty  of,  119-121. 
Peale,  artist,  128. 
Penn,  Admiral,  y2. 

William,  71,  78,  84,  107,  123,  159. 
old  china  designs  of,  117-119, 
270. 
Penn's  Treaty  with   Indians,   117- 

123. 
Pennsylvania,  6,  15,  87. 

arms  of,  155. 

Hospital,  79,  123,  204- 

Museum,  271. 
Perkins,  Thomas,  28. 
Perry,  Commodore,  O.  H.,  185,  186, 
189,  216. 

Memorial,  46,  186. 
Perry,  Commodore,  canal  boat,  215. 
Petit,  cook,  251. 
Pewter,  136,  249. 
IPewter  Platter  Alley,  yy. 
Pewter  Platter  Inn,  81. 
Pharaoh,  151, 
Philadelphia,  history  of,  71-87,  94, 

117,  119,  141,  144,  ISO.  158,  159, 

181,  203,  204,  226,  234,  246. 
Bank  of  United  States,  76,  80,  204. 
Dam   and   Waterworks,   85,   204, 

230. 
Fairmount  Park,  76,  84. 
Hospital,    Pennsylvania,    76,    79, 

160,  204. 
Library,  76,  yT,  78,  160,  204. 
Mendenhall  Ferry,  87. 
State  House,  203. 
Staughton's  Church,  83. 
United   States  Hotel,  82. 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  160. 
Upper  Ferry  Bridge,  87. 
"Woodlands,"  86. 
Philadelphia,  frigate,  175-177. 
Phillips,  E.  J.  &  Co.,  potters,  269. 
Hon.  John,  28. 
Wendell,  28. 
Phoenix,  70. 


Physick,  Dr.  Philip  Syng.  87. 

Pickwick,  Mr.,  162. 

"Picturesque  Views,"  Hudson  River 

scenery,  11,  268. 
Pierce,   Franklin,   President,   china 

of,  260. 
Pike,  General,  99,  184,  185,  189. 
Pilgrims,  story  of  Landing  of,  89, 
107,  113-116,  159- 

old  china  views  of  Landing,  114, 
267. 
Pincian  Hill,  Rome,  102. 
Pine  Orchard  House,  Catskills,  12. 
Pine-tree  flag,  8,  130,  147. 
Pioneers  of  America,  107-123. 

Americus  Vespucius,  3. 

Columbus,  107-113. 

Dutch,  s,  43-47,  T^,  122. 

English,  5,  113-117- 

French,  4,  5. 

Pennsylvania,  1 17-123. 

Spanish,  5. 
Pirates,  African,  174,  175. 
Pittsburgh,  15,  210,  230,  256. 
Pittsfield,  Mass.,  9. 
Pittsfield  Elm,  9. 
Plains  of  Abraham,  8. 
Plan,  of  Philadelphia,  72-74. 

of  Washington,  D.  C,  95,  96,  103. 
Plutarch,  158. 
Plymouth,  England,  113. 

Mass.,  114,  116. 
Plymouth   Rock,    114. 
Polk,  James  K.,  Mrs.,  245. 

President,  china  of,  258,  259. 
Polo,  Marco,  108,  in,  118. 
Pomona,   129. 

Porcelain    (see  Introduction),   (see 
China). 

Franklin's  fondness  for,  133,  158, 
166,   167,   169. 

Washington's  fondness  for,  259. 

in  White  House  Collection,  245- 
266. 
"Poor   Richard."   161. 
Porter,  Capt.  189. 
Portrait  pitchers,  of  George  Wash- 
ington,  124-134. 


304 


INDEX 


Portrait,  naval,  172-191. 
Post  Office,  New  York,  58,  69. 

Washington,  D.  C,  100. 
Post  Road,  Boston  (see  Boston). 
Potomac,  95,  97,  104,  126,  206. 
Potters,    Staffordshire    (see   Intro- 
duction), 267-271. 

marks  of,  267-271. 
"Potteries,  The"  (see  Introduction). 
Poughkeepsie,  201. 
Power,  Tyrone,  62. 
Preble,  Commodore,  174-178. 
Pesidents  of  the  United  States,  245- 
266. 

Mansion  (see  White  House). 
Presidential    china.    White    House 
Collection  of,  245-266. 

Washington,  248-250. 

John  Adams,  250,  251. 

Jefferson,  251,  252. 

Madison,  252-254, 

Monroe,  254,  255. 

J.  Q.  Adams,  255. 

Jackson,  255-257. 

VanBuren,  257. 

W.  H.  Harrison,  258. 

Tyler,  258. 

Polk,  258,  259. 

Taylor,  259. 

Fillmore,  26a 

Pierce,  260. 

Buchanan,  26a 

Lincoln,  261. 

Johnson,  261. 

Grant,  261,  262. 

Hayes,  262. 

Garfield,  263. 

Arthur,  263. 

Cleveland,  264. 

B.  Harrison,  264. 

McKinley,  265. 

Roosevelt,  265. 

Taft,  266. 

Wilson,  266. 
Princeton  Univ.,  203. 
"Proscribed  Patriots,"  31. 

Pitcher  design,  131,  134. 
"Proverbs,"  Franklin's,  161-165. 


Provoost,  Rev.  Dr.,  67. 
Provost,  The,  N.  Y.,  5a 
Pulaski,  Geni,  209. 
Punch-bowl,  139,  261. 
Puritans  (See  Pilgrims),  5,  ii6l 
Put-in-Bay,  185. 

Quakers,  26,  71,  118. 
Quebec,  8,  56,  137,  139. 
"Queen's  Farm,"  63. 
Quincy,  Josiah,  Jr.,  28. 
Mass.,  198,  235. 

Railroads  (see  Travel). 

Raleigh,  131. 

Raphael,  133. 

Red  Jacket,  210. 

Red  Room,  White  House,  245,  253. 

Red  Sea,  151. 

Reproductions  of  designs,  271. 

Revolution,  War  of  the  (see  War 

of  the  Revolution). 
Rhode   Island,  9. 

Arms  of,  153. 
Richmond,  Va.,  16,  235,  258. 
Ridgway,  J.  &  W.,  potters,  61,  268. 
Ripley,  189. 

Rivers  of  America,  sketches  of  (See 
Introduction), 
early  knowledge  of,  3,  6,  209. 

Alabama,  209. 

Alleghany,  15,  231. 

Brandywine,  117,  141,  204. 

Delaware,  6,  72,  73,  84,  117,  226. 

East,  61,  69,  227. 

Genesee,  217. 

Hudson,  6,  10,  11,  44,  142,  143,  156^ 
199-202,  221,  225,  227,  228,  23a 

Juniata,  15. 

Mississippi,  6,  16,  17,  231. 

Mohawk,  22a 

Monong^ela,  15. 

Niagara,  18,  19. 

North,  64. 

Ohio,  6,  16,  210,  231,  232,  237. 

Orinoco,  113. 

Patapsco,  89. 

Potomac,  95,  97,  104,  206,  211. 


305 


INDEX 


Rivers  of  America,  Schuylkill,  73, 

84,  8s,  86,  87,  204,  226,  230. 
Rochester,  canal  at,  217,  218,  241. 
Rogers,  J.  &  G.,  potters,  269. 
Rogers,  189. 

Romance,  28,  29,  107,  113,  159. 
Rome,  Italy,  78,  83,  95,  102,  146,  215. 
Rome,  N.  Y.,  219. 
Roosevelt,  Mrs.  Theodore,  245,  246. 

Theodore,  Pres.,  china  of,  265,  266. 

Theodore,  Pres.,  remodeled  White 
House,  246,  265. 
Ross,  "Betsey,"  150. 
Royal  Academy,  England,  292. 
Rowlandson,  T.,  289. 
Rozinante,  291. 
Ruskin,  John,  235. 
Rutherford,  Major  Walter,  56. 

"Safety  barges,"  232. 

"Sailor  Pitchers,"  172,  173. 

Salem,  Mass.,  135. 

Samoset,  Indian,  114. 

Sancho  Panza,  291. 

Sandusky,  Ohio,  16. 

Saratoga,  Battle  of,  141. 

Saratoga,  flagship,  189. 

Savage,  artist,  128. 

Savannah,  Georgia,  16,  209,  234. 

Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  239,  240. 

Schuylkill  River,  72,  84,  85,  86,  87, 

204,  226. 
Scott,  189. 

Scriptural  designs  on  pottery,  267. 
Scudder's  Museum,  42,  58,  59,  62, 

196,  222. 
Seal,  Great,  of  the  U.  S.,  8,  56,  268, 
270. 

adaptations  of  on  china,  152. 

adopted  by  Congress,  152. 

early  designs  for,  151. 

on  Liverpool  pitcher,  129. 

on  Presidential  china,  248,  254. 

on  Lincoln  china,  261. 

on  Grant  china,  261. 

on  Hayes  china,  262. 

on  Benjamin  Harrison  china,  265. 

on  Roosevelt  china,  266. 


306 


Seneca  Chief,  canal  boat,  215. 
Serapis,  The,  162. 
Shackamaxon,  Treaty  of,  117. 
Shannon,  The,  185. 
Sims,  Joseph,  87. 
"Shining  Mountains,"  17. 
Simcoe,  Gen'l,  122. 
Site,  of  Baltimore,  89. 

of  Boston,  23. 

of  New  York,  44,  45. 

of  Philadelphia,  72,  73. 

of  Washington,  D.  C.,  95. 
"Sons  of  the  Mountains,"  207. 
Smirke,  Robert,  291. 
Smith,  Captain  John,  89. 
Smithsonian    Institution    (see    Na- 
tional Museum). 
Snuff-boxes,  168,  181,  184. 
"Sons  of  Liberty,"  58. 
"Sons  of  the  Mountains,"  207, 
Socrates,  158. 
South  America,  37. 
South  Carolina,  16,  209,  239. 

arms  of,  155. 
Spain,    5,    6,    109,    no,    146,    291, 

292. 
Squanto,  114. 

Staffordshire,  pottery  of,  when  and 
where  made,  color,  decora- 
tion, sold  in  America,  original 
and  present  value  of,  bor- 
ders, views  on,  etc.  (See  In- 
troduction). 

arrival  of  in  Boston,  36. 

list  of  American  views  on,  267- 
286. 

potters  of,  267-271. 
Stage  coach  travel,  197,  232, 234. 
Stage  routes,  233,  234. 
Stamp  Act,  49,  165,  166. 
Standish,  Miles,  114. 
State  House,  Boston,  27,  29. 

Philadelphia,  76,  94,  2^03. 
Staten  Island,  45,  65. 
"States"  design,  126,  130,  150,  268l 

Martha  Washington,  136. 
Staughton's  Church,  Phila.,  83. 

Rev.  William,  84. 


INDEX 


Steamships,  early,  Chancellor  Liv-      Tammany  Hall,  256. 


tngston,  229. 
Chief  Justice  Marshall,  230. 
Clermont,  227. 
Fulton,  194,  228, 
James  Kent,  199. 
"Troy  Line"  of,  230. 
"Union  Line"  of,  23a 
•    travel  on,  209. 
Stephenson,  George,  235. 
Stevenson  potteries,  England,  45,  62, 

63,  267,  269. 
St  Lawrence  River,  5,  8. 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  209. 
Stonington,  Connecticut,  Defense  of, 

187. 
"Stourbridge  Lion,"  236. 
St.  Patrick's,  N.  Y.,  57. 
St.  Paul's,  Boston,  33. 

Chapel,  N.  Y.,  55,  62,  67,  196,  222. 
St.  Peter's,  Rome,  102. 
Streets,  city,  Baltimore,  88. 
Boston,  22-24,  26,  27,  29,  30,  71. 
New  York,  43,  50,  52,  68. 
Philadelphia,  51,  71,  73.  74,  95- 
Washington,  96,  97,  98,  103. 
Stuart,  Captain,  178,  189. 

Gilbert,  128. 
Stubbs,  Joseph,  potter,  84,  268. 
Stuyvesant,  Gov.  Peter,  43,  46,  49, 

51,  72. 
Styles  in  dress  in  early  America,  21, 

24,  47,  III,  118,  127. 
"Success  to  the  Infant  Navy"  de- 
sign, 173. 
Superior,  canal  boat,  215. 
"Surtout  de  table,"  254,  257. 
Sydney,  Algernon,  156. 
"Sylvania,"  72. 
Syntax,  Dr.,  designs  on  pottery,  268. 

story  of,  162,  289,  290. 
Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  219. 


Table  Rock,  Niagara  Falls,  19, 
Taft,  Mrs.  William  H.,  254. 

William  H.,  Pres.,  245. 

china  of,  266. 


Tams,  John,  potter,  135,  27a 

S.  &  Co.,  potters,  268. 
Tarrytown,  N.  Y.,  200. 
Taverns,  "Eagle,"  Buffalo,  216. 

Fraunce's,  New  York,  52. 

Harding's,  Philadelphia,  87. 

Lockport,  216. 

Philadelphia,  53,  54,  81. 

signs,  80,  81. 
Tawenna,  Indian  Chief,  12a 
Temple  of  Fame,  46. 
Tennessee,  151. 
Teresa  Panza,  291. 
"Texian  Campaign,"  27a 
Theater,  Albany,  279. 

going  in  Philadelphia,  82. 

Park,  New  York,  62,  196. 

Scudder's  Museum,  59. 
Ticknor,  George,  28. 
Tiffany,  Mr.  Louis,  263. 

screen  in  White  House,  263. 
Tomb,    of    Franklin,    Lafayette  at, 
169,  204. 

of  Washington,  104,  125. 

of  Washington,  Lafayette  at,  127, 
206,  207. 
Tompkins,  Daniel  D.,  67,  194. 
Tom  Thumb,  General,  59. 
"Tom  Thumb"  locomotive,  93,  238. 
Tour,  imaginary,  of  early  America, 
3-21. 

in    search    of    the     Picturesque, 
289. 

in  search  of  Consolation,  29a 

in  search  of  a  Wife,  290. 

of  America  by  Lafayette  in  1824- 
5,  192-212. 
Transylvania  University,  Lexington, 

Ky.,  17. 
Travel,  new  modes  of,  225-241. 

by  land,  232-239. 

by  water,  225-232. 

references  to,  35,  38,  87,  91,  93, 
208,  209,  223. 
Treaty,  Belt  of  Peace,  120,  lai. 

Elm,  122. 

Of  Ghent,  33,  54,  191,  254. 


307 


INDEX 


Treaty,   Penn's,  with  Indians,  107, 
1 17-123,  270. 
Penn's  Treaty  Monument,  123. 
with  France,  167. 

Trenton,  N.  J.,  203. 

Tri-Mountain   (Tremont  St.,  Bos- 
ton), 23. 

Trinity,  Old,  New  York,  51.  54.  55. 
63,  64,  65. 

Tripoli,  naval  engagement,  175,  176, 

177. 

on  Liverpool  pitcher,  178. 
Tropical  scenes  in  America,  3,  4, 

108,  118. 
"Troy  from  Mt.  Ida,"  14,  46,  202. 
Troy  Female  Seminary,  202. 
"Troy  Line"  of  boats,  230. 
Trumbull,  artist,  128. 
Truxton,  Com.,  173,  174. 
Turkey,  sultan  of,  174. 
Tyler,  Mrs.,  John,  portrait  of,  245. 

President,  china  of,  258. 

Ulm,  campaign  of,  143. 
"Union  Line"  of  steamboats,  230. 
United  States,  Bank  of,  in  Phila., 
76,  80,  204. 
early  conditions  and  map  of,  5, 

6,7. 
emblems  of,  52,  56,  146-157. 
Hotel,  Philadelphia,  82. 
War  of  France  and  the,  173. 
United  States  and  Macedonian,  182. 
University,    Columbia,    46,    63-68, 
196,  222. 
Harvard,  10,  38-42,  63,  67,  68,  71, 

198. 
of  Maryland,  90,  92,  93,  205. 
of  Pennsylvania,  160. 
Princeton,  203. 
Transylvania,  17. 
"Upper  Ferry  Bridge,"  87. 
Unknown    makers    of    china    dec- 
orations, 271. 
"Utica  Inscription,"  219,  241. 


Valley  Forge,  83,  141. 


308 


Van  Buren,  Mrs.,  portrait  of,  245. 

President  Martin,  china  of,  257. 
Van  Rensselaer,  189. 
Van  Wert,  Isaac,  200. 
Venice,  95,  108,  214. 
Vermont,  9,  127,  150,  151. 
Versailles,  162. 
Vespucius,  Americus,  3. 
Vesuvius,  Mt,  18. 
Virgil,  67. 

Virginia,    5,    6,    16,    40^    143,   xS, 
211. 

Arms  of,  157. 

sandstone,  97,  102. 
"Virginia  Housewife,"  251. 

Wall,  W.  G.,  II,  45,  46,  186,  268. 
Wall  St.,  New  York,  51,  52,  53,  59, 

63,  69,  71- 
Wallack,  actor,  62. 
War  of  1812,  16,  53,  91,  99,  135,  179, 
190,  204,  253. 

story  of,  172-191. 

Battle  of  Lake  Champlain,  188. 

Battle  of  Lake  Erie,  185,  186. 

Battle  of  New  Orleans,  191. 

Chesapeake  and  Shannon,  185. 

Constitution,  first  engagement  of, 
179,  180. 

Constitution  and  Guerrihe,  181. 

Constitution  and  Java,  183. 

Defense  of  Stonington,  187. 

Enterprise  and  Boxer,  186. 

United   States  and   Macedonian, 
182. 

Wasp  and  Frolic,  182. 

York,  Canada,  184. 
War  of  the  Revolution,  66,  122,  165, 
199,  213. 

Battle  of  the  Brandywine,  141. 

Brooklyn  Heights,  140. 

Surrender  at  Saratoga,  141. 

Surrender  at  Yorktown,  142,  143. 

Treason  at  Westpoint,  142. 

old  china  views  of,  137. 

story  of,  137-145. 
War  with  Mexico,  259. 
Warren,  Gen'l,  34,  139,  198. 


INDEX 


Washington,  George,  7,  9,  52,  54, 
56,  58,  61,  6s,  67,  75,  83,  91, 
95,  98,  100,  125,  126,  127,  128, 
129,  130,  140,  141,  143,  150, 
169,  189,  190,  197,  201,  213, 
246,  249. 
Arms  of,  149. 
busts,   statuettes,   medallions   of, 

133. 

china  of  in  White  House,  248-250. 

Erie  canal  portrait,  218. 

Lafayette  at  Tomb  of,  207. 

Liverpool  portraits  of,  124-134. 

portrait  in  White  House,  253. 
Washington  Elm,  loi. 

Monument,  103. 
"Washington  in  Glory,"  153. 
Washington,  D,  C,  16,  50,  234. 

burning  of,  253. 

history  of,  94-104. 

old  china  views  of,  100. 

Presidential  china  in,  245-266. 

President's    House     (see    White 
House). 
Washington,    Martha,    portrait    of 
in  White  House,  245. 

"States"  china,  136,  150,  250. 

Tomb  of,  207. 
Wasp  and  Frolic,  182. 
Water  supply,  of  New  York,  50,  54. 

of  Philadelphia,  84. 
Watling's  Island,  iii. 
Watt,  James,  225. 
Webster,  Daniel,  116,  211,  235. 
Wedgwood,  169. 

Weehawk,  New  York  from,  44,  45. 
"Week-day   sermons"  of   Franklin, 

71,  161-165. 
West,  Benjamin,  81,  118,  119,  I22. 
West  Coast,  Africa,  37. 
West  Indies,  37. 


West  Point,  11,  137,  142,  20a 
White  House,  97,  102,  103,  126,  193, 
205,  246,  247,  264. 

burned,  100. 

East  Room  of,  250,  254,  255,  359^ 

Mrs.  Adams  in,  98. 

old  china  view  of,  102,  269, 

portraits  of  mistresses  of,  245. 

presidential  china  in,  245-266. 

rebuilt  after  fire,  102. 

Red  Room  in,  245,  253. 

refurnished  by  Monroe,  246. 

refurnished  by  Arthur,  263. 

restored  by  Roosevelt,  265. 
White  Plains,  140. 
Wilkie,  Sir  David,  268,  292. 
Williams,  David,  200. 
Willow  pattern,  257,  287,  288. 
Winslow,  114. 

Wilson,      Woodrow,      presidential 
china  of,  266. 

Mrs.,  portrait  of,  245. 
Winthrop,  Gov.  John,  22. 
Wolfe,  Gen.,  8. 
Wood,  Enoch,  potter,  11,  46,   116, 

140,  190,  237,  267. 
"Woodlands,"  Philadelphia,  86. 
Wren,  Sir  Christopher,  55. 

Xenophon,  67,  158. 

Yale  College,  10,  199. 

"Yankee  Doodle,"  143. 

York,  Canada,  99,  185. 

Yorktown,  Surrender  of  Comwallis 

at,  83,  137,  142,  143,  144,  196. 
visit   of   Lafayette  to,    197,   205, 

207,  208. 
Young   Lion  of   the    West,  canal 

boat,  217. 


309 


C5 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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